Song of a Tortured Heart
by Random Irken Derp
Summary: A death, a betrayal and a great evil inside. How much torture can one girl suffer? Can she right the wrongs of her past and find light at the end of the tunnel or does it lead to infinite darkness in her fragile mind... CanonxOC WARNING: this fanfiction contains violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Long Awaited Escape**

Cold, quiet, empty. This is all she knew. This was all she had known for a long time. She was not like any normal girl you know. She was a monster.

Trapped in here, doomed to an eternity of isolation. They used to do tests on her before she became far too dangerous. Now they simply kept her locked up. Like a pet. They knew if they killed her the evil would escape and the search would start all over again. They sent their lowest ranking employee to bring her food and spray her down with a hose. Apparently that counts as bathing. They thought it was a simple task keeping her contained, but they never knew the truth until it was too late.

"Alright, Aronson, your turn to feed number 47." his co-worker said.

"Dammit!" Joseph Aronson cursed. "Why do I always get the shit jobs?" he growled.

"Just shut up and do it. It's not as hard as it sounds and you know it."

And with that he set a tray filled with a cold piece of chicken, a biscuit, and a dirty plastic cup filled with tap water on Joseph's desk and left the room. Joseph sighed and took it with him as he walked out of his office and into an elevator just down the hall, going down to the containment level where the beasts were kept.

When the doors opened again he was greeted by a guard who, despite knowing that Joseph came here often and knew where the correct cell was, escorted him through the cold all white hallways to a large door. The guard pulled out a walkie-talkie and gave the order to open the door. A mix of static and incoherent words came back in response and several seconds later the door slowly opened. As the two stepped inside it closed behind them and another opened a few feet in front of them.

Though he had done this as almost a routine thing Joseph backed up and tried to swallow is fear. That girl gave him the creeps. He finally stepped inside with the guard staying close behind him. Joseph stopped a few feet in front of her making sure to be out of her reach and slowly pushed the tray to her being careful not to spill the drink.

She looked like any normal human girl. She had pale skin and blonde hair. Of course her treatment in this place had left her terribly thin and her shoulder length hair had turned to more of a brown color for years of improper hygiene. She sat on the cold floor curled up with her head in her knees and chains on her wrists and ankles. She had never looked up when people were around. She mostly just slept. And she never, EVER, opened her mouth to speak. You could barely hear her breathe. She was creepy but this wasn't the worst side of her.

Joseph slowly got up and turned away. Then he heard a small raspy voice.

"You don't know how powerful I am."

He froze in his tracks and turned around to see two bloodshot red eyes staring at him. The girl smiled a little, quickly grabbing her drink and taking a long sip. She dropped it on the ground next to the tray and slowly stood up on her shaking legs. She closed her eyes for a second in a deep focus before opening them and letting the smile on her face grow.

The guard pulled out his gun but the girl was not the slightest bit intimidated. Her chains flew off whipping both of them leaving bleeding slash marks across their faces. The guard fired several shots but in his daze all of them missed as the girl ran from the room. He tried to find his walkie-talkie but only saw the smashed pieces surrounding him and the unconscious Joseph. The girl built up a glowing black orb sparking with red electricity in her hand and threw it through the large metal door, leaving a gaping hole in it, which she gracefully hopped through.

She knew the cameras would see her soon but it didn't matter to her. She could sense the energy pouring out of the object that she needed. She slowly made her way down the hall and up to a flight of stairs that lead to the lab and testing level. She was half way up when red warning lights began to flash and a woman's voice echoed around her from the intercom. "This is an emergency alert. A D-class subject has escaped the vault. All staff evacuate the facility immediately." she smirked at how remarkably calm the woman sounded as she picked up her pace on the stairs.

She burst through the small door which led into another white hallway. She saw the guards coming and smiled standing firmly in her place, waiting for them. Even from a distance she could hear their terrified whispers to each other. Only a few kept straight faces or a sadistic grin, showing they'd happy to blow her face off. She took several steps forward and jumped into the air floating above them.

"Hurry shoot her!" one of them shouted.

They fired but the girl dodged with only one grazing her arm. She landed in the middle of the group taking a knife from one of the guards back pockets.

"Shoot me." she muttered before stabbing the officer behind her in the shoulder.

She cut and slashed at everyone one of them occasionally dodging fire. Eventually she was standing quietly in a mess of blood and bodies, only a few were breathing. The girl gripped the blade tightly finally taking the time to examine it.

It had come off the only female guard in the group. It had a wood handle with a few pink flowers on the back. On the front were several letters printed in gold. Alice. The girl nodded to nothing in particular and stepped up to the locked door that led to one of the laboratories.

With another blast the metal door fell off its hinges and onto the floor. Everyone who had been dumb enough to stay turned to her in shock and most hid behind tables or equipment. She disregarded them and slowly walked across the room to a small case. Inside was a glowing small red gem attached to a strip of black fabric. The girl jumped back firing a blast at the case. She avoided the broken glass that had fallen onto the ground with ease and took the gem in her hands.

"NO!" a scientist charged for her knowing that with that gem it was all over.

Taking a beaker he attempted to knock her out, even kill her. But suddenly he stopped. The girl glared at him as she choked him with her powers. He dropped the beaker which smashed on the ground and the man flew against the wall, blood spilling from him as he was impaled on a switch on the wall. The girl pulled him out and dropped him on the ground as the other employees screamed or threw up, one of them actually doing both.

She allowed the other staff members to escape as she found a medical kit and bandaged her bleeding arm while hiding from the guards in one the supply closets.

After killing several more guards the girl had made her way to the back emergency door. She took a second to take a deep breath and blew it open. She was blinded by the outside light and goosebumps covered her skin as the evening breeze blew past her. She stepped out into the golden light and made her way over the chain-link barb wire fence and out onto the rocks overlooking the sparkling blue ocean.

A man watched her, knowing she was planning something. He held his sniper steady and focused, keeping the pointer on her neck and his finger on the trigger. "Goodbye my dear." he chuckled in a low voice.

The girl knew someone was aiming for her. Why would they not be? She built up her power in her hands again as she walked slowly to the edge. Her toes gripped the edge of the rocks and taking one second to breathe she jumped, turning back and firing to the upper window as she fell. She heard a massive explosion as she fell into the ocean and formed a bubble around herself to protect her. The waves began to carry her towards the shore as she curled up in her bubble of energy tying the gem around her neck.

"I have it. Pack up and find me. I'll be waiting…" she thought sending her telepathic message to her partner.

…..

No one ever notices a stray animal, do they? They've never seen Ruby anyways.

She was a gray cat with a white face, paws, and tip of her tail. She had a bright pink nose and shiny blue eyes. Her ears twitched as her friend's message ran into her head. She didn't have the ability to respond but she knew what to do. Ruby may have been born in an alley but she certainly wasn't an alley cat, she had been staying in there only because it was an easy source of food. She was an intelligent cat so she didn't want to waste her time chasing rodents and other little things.

She dragged a small torn up and dirty purse out from behind the dumpster. Inside was a large book and various articles of clothing that she had sadly had to steal, but c'mon, who's going to sell clothes to a cat anyways? She pulled the strap over her head and slowly crept out with the bag dragging right behind her. She quickly saw a flatbed truck about to stop at a red light which seemed to be heading in the direction she needed to go. Just her luck.

Ruby ran holding the bag in her teeth and jumped into the truck just before the light turned green. She sighed and caught her breath while keeping an eye on where this truck was going. She'd be there in no time.

…..

The girl opened her eyes to find herself in shallow water looking up at the stars. She sat up and turned to see a small beach in front of a dense forest. Taking in every detail she told her partner, again telepathically. She knew she could find her. The girl made her way into the woods, shivering from the water that clung to her skin. She avoided as many things on the ground as she could but with her limited vision she soon felt stings of pain from stepping on sticks and other debris.

Later she sat down on a fallen log to rest her feet and listened to the wind rush past the leaves. She waited for a very long time until she heard something in a bush nearby.

"Lexi?" she heard a voice whisper.

"You know not to call me that now Ruby." she responded with a small smirk.

Ruby poked her head out of the bush and beamed running to the girl. She jumped up in her lap and nuzzled her, purring. The girl, Lexi hugged her furry friend with a warm smile growing on her face.

"It's been so long Ruby. I missed you."

"Four years to be exact." Ruby corrected.

"And it could've been ten without you, you sneaky little rat." Lexi smirked rubbing Ruby's head.

"Well, you cast the spell to let me talk and understand you." the two friends exchanged a few more smiles before Ruby handed Lexi the bag.

"I got everything I could and our new house isn't too far from here." Ruby explained.

"What would I do without you?" Lexi smirked.

She pulled out the clothes, slipping them on. She now wore a short black dress with a light pink t-shirt underneath, long black and pink striped socks, red fingerless gloves and red ballet flats.

"You brought the spell book too, right?" Lexi asked.

Ruby nodded and pulled the thick book out. Lexi took it and examined it closely. The book's cover was a dull green and covered in dirt. The gold designs on the edges shined in the moonlight as Lexi ran her fingers over them. She opened it to a specific page that was bookmarked with a sticky note. Reading the spell over a few times she soon began to say the words out loud.

Her hair began to glow and it soon went past her back and continued to grow until it was almost to her ankles and her bangs covered her face. The glow faded as the edges of her hair turned a bright red. Ruby gave Lexi a hair tie and she pulled in back in a ponytail. Taking a black bow hair clip she pulled back the bangs covering her left eye and held it in place.

"So you have a new look now. What about your name?" Ruby asked.

Lexi looked back to the log she had been sitting on and where she had been was where the pocket knife now was.

"Alice." she muttered. "That name will do for now."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow. Just wow. How the hell does this happen? Less than a week and I already have so many people reading this. You guys rock! :D Thanks to Jacinda Gaines, ToonLink13, pinkgamer, Invader-Rirk, lunarcatx, and my good friends violets117 and DarkDremora4 for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Special thanks to Dremora for the critique and I'm glad you like it so far.**

**Chapter 2: New Home. New Life.**

Dawn was coming nearer with every passing second and the sun's golden rays seemed to lift people out of bed, excluding the lazy ones of course. Children and adults came out of their homes, rubbing their eyes and running out with their briefcases and backpacks.

Some noticed an odd tired girl stumbling down the sidewalk with a gray and white cat following her. Many assumed that the girl was older than she really was and had been out late at a High School or College party the previous night and the cat was nothing more than a scared stray. Alice yawned again as she tried not to run into anything and catch anyone's eye.

"Man, escaping from government facilities then walking all night really takes a lot out of you." she mumbled, yawning again.

"We're almost there. No one notices anything in this town. We should be safe for at least a little while." Ruby explained. "You're acting awful casual about all this. Something bigger on your mind?"

"No, but freaking out and making a scene won't help anything. I have to learn to control myself." Alice sighed.

"I'm proud of you, Alice. You've grown so mature." Ruby smiled leaping up ahead of her, stopping in front of an old dusty house.

It was a small, one-story house made of red brick with a tan roof. The front door was old and wooden the glass screen down in front of it was shattered. The garage was dilapidated with a large hole in the roof and the lawn was horribly overgrown. "Home, sweet home." Alice muttered as she followed Ruby around to the back door. The screen door in front of it was hanging off its rusty hinges and the doorknob was ready to fall off.

Alice sighed carefully opening the door and stepping inside. In front of her was a dark, dirty kitchen with a broken refrigerator, an oven, sink, and several cabinets hanging on the walls. To her right was a tiny white bathroom and to her left were stairs leading into a pitch black basement Alice kicked off her shoes and continued to explore the house. She found a living room with a few torn up chairs and an unstable bookshelf and an office with only a desk, a file cabinet, and a keyboard not hooked up to a computer.

"These people must've left in a hurry to leave all this stuff behind." Alice commented typing a few random keys on the keyboard.

"The house was already falling apart when they left. I found a note that explained everything." Ruby said jumping up onto the desk and lifting the keyboard to show a dirty, wrinkled piece of paper. Alice picked it up and read it out loud.

"Greetings alien lifeform or remnants of humanity, this is a letter from the past to say that we were right. Me and my wife spotted the advanced spacecraft blazing across the sky and evacuated to Japan where we can be safe from the aliens. This old house was crap anyways. If we have left anything that is of use to you feel free to use whatever you want. We don't plan on coming back to this hell…The name's cut off but whoever this guy is he's a real nutcase." Alice laughed.

Alice and Ruby shared another laugh before they walked into a dark bedroom with a blank mattress and a night table with an empty alarm clock. Alice tried the light switch multiple times but everything stayed dark.

"I haven't been able to get the power on but the plumbing is fine." Ruby said with a suggestive smirk motioning to another bathroom across the hall.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Alice asked with a slight glare.

"Let's just say it'll be better for everyone if you take some time to bathe." Ruby smirked.

Alice would've growled or spat out an insult but the idea of a warm bath was too damn alluring. Ruby scampered into the bedroom and pulled an old shopping bag out from behind the bed. "Here, it's some shampoo and some more clothes." Ruby said dragging and dropping the bag at Alice's feet.

"Heh, you think of everything." Alice smiled giving Ruby a few pets.

"Well I've had a few years to gather supplies and all that. I stocked up on most supplies we'll need for a while." Ruby said before running off down the hall.

Alice took the bag into the bathroom with her and searched through it until she found the shampoo and body wash bottles. She let out a sigh, letting the warm water rush over her hand from the faucet. "It's been so long…"

Alice took her time washing her hair and draining the tub but eventually she got out and wrapped herself up in a soft towel she found on a rack on the door. As she dried and brushed out her hair, which was now a bitch to straighten, she picked through the clothes in the bag before deciding on a light violet tank top and black shorts. She stepped out of the bathroom and walked back into the bedroom, collapsing on the bed.

Ruby heard the thump of Alice hitting the bed and sighed as she looked between a knocked out Alice and the wet bathroom floor with her clothes scattered across it.

"Oh Alice, sometimes I think I really am your mother." she muttered to no one.

…

Buzz...buzz...buzz...bu-click.

A boy took his hand slowly off the snooze button and released a tired groan, pulling the sheets over his large head. He heard another high pitched beeping sound a few minutes later and hit the clock again but the noise continued.

He finally lifted his head and let his eyes adjust. His vision still blurry, he grabbed his glasses off the second to stretch before investigating the noise. He turned to see the sound was a notification on his computer. "The Swollen Eyeballs!" he gasped.

The Swollen Eyeball Network specializes in paranormal and extraterrestrial sightings and finding the truth to learn from and expose. Most members are considered crazy outcasts in society but they are the only ones that can truly see.

The boy leaped out of his bed, attempting to straighten his jet black scythe-shaped hair, and accepted the call from the network. A hunched over figure covered in shadows with glowing red eyes appeared on the screen and glared at the boy.

"Agent Mothman! Where have you been?!" the shadow growled trying to control himself.

"Huh? What do you mean Agent Darkbooty?" the boy, Mothman, asked.

"I've been trying to contact you for hours! Where were you?"

"Uh...asleep?" Mothman shrugged.

Darkbooty groaned and rubbed his temples. "This is a serious matter Agent Mothman, particularly for you. A dangerous paranormal entity has escaped detainment and may be near your area."

Mothman gasped. "Wow, really? Which one is it? I can catch it and bring it back for you!" He smiled excited, obviously not hearing the 'dangerous' part.

"It's the latest victim of the Soul Shadow. I highly suggest that you should not pursue this one, not on your own."

Mothman's blood went cold as his memory of the creature known as the Soul Shadow filled his mind. It was a demon-like entity, which possessed newborn babies, mostly girls, and it gave the possessed person extraordinary powers, but at a price of course.

"B-but...the Shadow...that's supposedly the most powerful paranormal creature in our world!"

"Exactly. That's why you are not to attempt to capture it. But since there are no other eyeballs in the area you will have to find the one whom the Soul Shadow has taken this time." Darkbooty explained. "I'm sending you the latest picture we could access but keep in mind she has been kept in a government facility for four years and the only picture we could access is when she was young. She'd be closer to your age."

An image of a small girl popped up on screen. Her hair was extremely short, only going halfway past her ears. She looked tired and distressed, almost paranoid. Her eyes were mostly blood red but the edges of her irises were bright blue. They were puffy and streams of tears were flowing down her face. Even though it was a four year old photograph and he had never seen the girl before he could almost hear her cries for help ringing in his ears.

"Alright then, I-I'll let you know if anything comes up." Mothman finally agreed.

"Good, I look forward to your report. Darkbooty out."

The screen turned to static for a second and Mothman looked back to the image of the girl. "A vicious, murderous, possessed girl...and she looks...like that..?" he muttered to himself.

"DIB! Come eat your stupid breakfast! It's time for Skool!" the threatening voice of Mothman, or Dib's, little sister yelled.

"Coming Gaz!"

…..

Alice opened her eyes to find herself in a different place than she had fallen asleep in. Rather than the large blank bedroom she was on the pavement staring up at the stars. Alice sat up and rubbed her sore back, looking around. This place seemed familiar to her.

She soon heard screaming and a gunshot coming from a house nearby. She walked up to the house while things were quiet an as she went to look in a window the air around her seemed warmer and before she could run the house burst into flames. Alice dived and threw her arms over her face as the heat and light blinded her. She finally was able to crawl away from the flames and stumble to her feet. She turned around and stared in horror at the house as it crumbled and burned.

She looked to her left and saw a little girl with long blonde hair, purple pajamas, and an old, gray, worn out stuffed bunny in her arms staring at the house with a blank expression, her eyes glowing bright red.

Sirens were heard in the distance and the girl and Alice turned to see the fire and police department roaring down the street. Alice turned to run but the young girl caught the back of her shirt. "You don't deserve to run free. You and I can never run. Even if we do it will still follow us until they day you die." and with that the girl flung Alice into the flames.

She screamed in agony as the flames burned and swallowed her. She coughed and tears streamed down her face and amongst the flames she saw a mangled female corpse and the burn body of a man. Alice cried and continued to scream at the pain until she faded into darkness…

"ALICE! WAKE UP!"

Alice bolted up right with a scream and Ruby fell off of Alice's lap and onto the floor with a thud. Alice's heart pounded a mile a minute in her ears as she tried to process where she was. She was still in her new bed, no burn marks on her pale skin, and she could only assume it was some time past 10 o'clock since the window by her showed a dark, empty street outside. Alice took a few heavy breaths and wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and the back of her neck.

"I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes." Ruby said jumping back up on the bed, with a shake. "Another nightmare?"

Alice just nodded wiping her eyes as she fell back on her bed. "They've been getting worse again, Ruby. I-I don't know what to do." Alice cried quietly and shivered.

"We can worry about all this later. You'll be able to think better with plenty of sleep." Ruby calmly smiled pulling the blankets up to Alice's neck with her teeth.

Alice smiled back and nodded in silent agreement. Ruby nuzzled Alice's cheek and lay down next to her, resting her chin and front paws on Alice's arm. Alice pet her softly and her eyes fluttered closed, falling back asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thanks to AlexIZ123, Katie Omnomnom (love the name :D), and Himeno Kazehito for following favoriting and reviewing.**

**I GOT A POTATO!**

**Chapter 3: The New Girl**

Alice groaned, holding her stomach tightly as she rolled over. When was the last time she ate?

She opened her eyes and blinked at the sunlight streaming in through the open window. From what Ruby told her today should be Tuesday, September 30th. Good thing she wasn't being forced to go to school.

She was very light-headed and kinda dizzy but she was still able to make her way to the kitchen and grab a granola bar from the fully stocked pantry. She ate a few more various things she could find in there and eventually she had enough energy to get on with her day.

"I see you found the stash."

Alice turned around, with a handful of chips halfway stuffed in her mouth, and saw Ruby sitting on the table, smirking at her. "This should last a few months but it won't be much longer than that if you gorge on it." Alice nodded and swallowed her last bites before putting the food away and wiping the crumbs off of her face.

"Ugh, it's too stuffy in here. I need some fresh air." Alice said as she changed back into her dress, which Ruby had nice enough to wash while she was sleeping.

"Wait, Alice! It's too dangerous to go outside yet!" Ruby yelled, running up and tugging on Alice's socks.

"It's alright, Ruby. I'm just going out for a second."

And with that Alice gave Ruby a small shove and walked outside. She took a deep breath, taking in the outside air as she hopped off the porch, into the overgrown yard. Ruby watched from the doorway as Alice lay down in the grass and let herself relax.

"Come on, Alice. They might be scanning this area right now." Ruby hissed.

"Alright. Alright. I'm coming." Alice muttered. She sat up and got to her feet as a police cruiser pulled up just down the street.

"Hey!" Alice heard a man shout. Acting on impulse she ran, without turning around, towards the door. She almost made it when she was grabbed by the back of her shirt collar.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Alice yelled while choking and trying to squirm away from the officer's grasp. He dropped her and held onto her by her arm. He glared at her and turned her head to face him.

"Why aren't you in skool kid?"

"What?" Alice cocked her head, all of her previous fear gone.

"Unless they are sick or horribly injured, every child is required to go to skool, and you look just fine to me."

Alice wrinkled her nose at the officer's pig breath and tried to find a way out of the situation. "I'm...homeschooled?" she shrugged.

"Nice try, smart mouth." the officer said dragging Alice to his car.

Alice turned and saw Ruby frantically trying to catch up to them. "Don't worry Ruby. It's just school. I'll be fine." Alice said telepathically. Ruby stopped and watched Alice get tossed into the car and it drove off down the street.

…..

"Gir! Where are Zim's contacts?!" screamed a small boy, who was searching around his small house.

The boy had green skin and no ears, wearing a pink tunic with black pants, boots, and long gloves. This "boy" was actually not a boy at all, as you would easily guess. This "boy" was in reality an alien. Fully determined to conquer the Earth and please his race, especially his leaders.

The alien known as Zim, straightened his black wig to cover his black, stalky antenna and focused his pupil-less, magenta eyes on a little robot sitting on the floor, with glowing teal blue eyes, who was chewing on a fake human eye with a light violet iris.

"I found it!" the robot giggled pulling the contact out of his mouth.

Zim shuddered and gently picked it up, letting the drool drip off of it. He sent a glare at Gir, his robot assistant, and grabbed the other contact off of an end table. He shoved both of them into his eyes, blinking a few times to get them in place.

He breathed out an annoyed sigh before trudging to the door. "Another filthy Earth day…" Zim muttered to himself with a scowl on his face.

…..

The officer dragged Alice down the filthy hallways of the Skool, which Alice was still confused about the spelling, and earned many confused stares from the kids walking around and grabbing their things out of their lockers. The officer stopped in front of an open door and shoved Alice harshly inside, slamming the door behind her.

She stumbled a little and held herself up with the teacher's desk. She felt a cold chill race up her spine and looked up to see a dark, snake-like figure growling at her. "So I've got a new student. I'm getting too old for this shit." the figure hissed.

The shadows disappeared from the figure revealing a tall incredibly old woman dressed in all black with thick glasses and white hair, pulled up in a neat bun. "Alright let's get this over with. I am your teacher, Miss Bitters. If you want to introduce yourself to the class make it quick. I'm getting tired of this." Miss Bitters said with venom in her voice.

Alice just squeaked and looked down at her shoes. She was never one for public speaking and she was supposed to stay in the shadows for the moment. Breaking out of facilities doesn't go unnoticed.

She just stood there, her face flushed with embarrassment. After what seemed like hours of awkward silence Miss Bitters finally spoke. "Great. Finally I get a quiet one. You can take Tak's old seat." she said pointing to an empty desk in the second row, next to the window.

Alice was able to give a small nod and quickly ran to her seat. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves but soon heard a few snickers and whispering behind her, causing her to blush again and shrink a little in her seat. To take her mind of it she stared out the window as Miss Bitters began the lesson.

A short time later Alice felt someone staring at her, watching her every move. She didn't acknowledge it. She just laid her head down on her desk and closed her eyes. Dib was watching her while she did this. Constantly turning around and glancing over his shoulder. He had every right to be suspicious. The girl was strangely similar to the Soul Shadow victim through her hair was far too long. Plus every new student that had been some sort of paranormal creature, mainly aliens.

Dib continued to watch her until he got hit in the head with a spitball. Speak of the devil. His focus now off the girl behind him, he growled at Zim who was silently chuckling to himself on the other side of the first row by the door. "Stupid alien…" Dib muttered under his breath while he pulled a tiny water pistol out of his pocket.

Zim's species, known as irkens, are highly allergic to water, meat and other basic human things. It normally would burn their skin and cause them extreme pain, and Dib loved using it to his advantage. He shook it a little, listening to the water slosh around inside the plastic, smirking at the idea of firing it at Zim later. He put the pistol back in his pocket and settled for shooting a spitball at Zim's forehead for now.

Alice hadn't fallen asleep at all but she didn't dare open her eyes, fearing that someone would be right in her face, staring at her. Though the thought only made her want to check. She cracked an eye open to see two boy's in the class in a paper throwing fight, Miss Bitters giving zero fucks what-so-ever. They were very odd though. A big-headed boy fighting another with green skin. And she thought SHE was the odd one in the class.

Eventually the lunch bell rang and interrupted their battle and Alice followed them and the other students to the cafeteria. Alice took one look at the food and decided to pass on lunch. She could've sworn it was staring back at her. Whatever it was.

Scanning the tables she saw there were only two that were more or less empty. One had the large-headed boy along with a young purple haired girl, and the other had the green kid all alone. Alice shrugged and chose the latter sitting down at the very end of the table.

She just sat there and kept to herself, humming a little tune in her head. A few minutes later she felt something poking her arm but ignored it.

"Hey! Hey! Human! Hey! You dare ignore Zim?!"

Alice finally rolled her eyes and turned to see Zim scowling at her.

"What are you doing at Zim's table?!" Zim yelled, spitting on her a little.

Alice wiped it off her face and stood up to put some distance from him. She glared at him which actually made him scoot back a little in fear. She turned away and went towards her second choice.

"I'm telling you Gaz, it looked just like a vampire doughnut!"

"Dib, I'm almost at the final boss in this game so if you make me fuck up I'll make you wish you were never born."

Dib held his hands up defensively and backed up from his little sister, Gaz, who was playing one of her games for her Game Slave 2 portable gaming system.

He backed to the end of the table to give her some space when he bumped into Alice who was just sitting down. She fell off the bench with a small yelp and landed on her face.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry I didn't-" Dib stopped when he turned around and saw the possible demon vessel picking herself up off the ground.

Their eyes met and Alice brushed off her dress before sitting back down on the other side of the table. "Uh...sorry…" Dib muttered, a bit timidly.

"It's alright."

Dib's head shot up in shock. "Oh! I didn't know you could talk."

"I just keep to myself a lot."

"So what's your name?"

"What's yours?"

"I'm Dib."

"Okay, my uh...my name's...Alice."

"So...I...know this will sound weird but are you...an alien?"

"What?" Alice cocked her head in pure confusion.

"It's just...you see that green kid over there?" Dib asked pointing back to where Alice was previously sitting.

"We've had the pleasure of meeting. Zim, was it?" Alice sighed.

"Yeah, he's an alien."

"He's also already a pain in my ass." Alice muttered, sending him a glare from across the room. Dib snickered and continued.

"Anyway he's been trying to take over the world and destroy us all!"

"Of course." Alice muttered.

"Now I know you think I sound crazy but if just look at him right-"

"Fuck this…" Alice muttered too low for Dib to hear. She stood up and left through the double doors while Dib was still ranting, now to himself.

"-though it looks a little more realistic than normal wigs you can still-ow!" Dib stopped ranting and saw Zim had just hit him with a lunch tray.

He growled at the smirking alien, who was standing victoriously on the table, and tackled him to the ground, forgetting about Alice completely and trying to get the water pistol out of his pocket.

…..

Alice walked across the empty blacktop until she came to a high barb wire fence. She climbed up on it and after making sure no one would see, quickly levitated over the wire. Jumping down into the grass Alice scanned around the area for police cruisers before running down the street in the direction of her house.

She was so busy keeping an eye out she didn't notice the odd dog sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. Alice tripped and hit the pavement, only being able to stare at what she tripped over as she picked herself up.

It was a dog...sort of; it had green fur, black paws and ears, large dilated eyes and a zipper?! Okay this was not a dog. It...Whatever it was...just stared at her with its red tongue falling out of its mouth. Alice raised an eyebrow and began to walk away when he heard it talk!

"Hi!" it squealed in a high-pitched, electronic voice.

Alice froze and couldn't find the words to reply to it. "Wh...What are you?" Alice asked.

"I'm waiting for my mastah." it said pointing to the school with its nubby arm.

"O...kay..?" Alice slowly backed up and turned around to run down the street when she felt something catch her leg.

"You're pwetty." the...thing...giggled, hugging her leg. Alice screamed and shot a ball of energy at it.

The explosion knocked Alice back and she stumbled on her feet before falling down. She heard car alarms as the dust from the blast climbed into the sky. She scrambled to her feet and ran down the street without looking back.

**AN: Calm your nipples. Gir is fine.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks to my friend Invader Techno for the review. :) Kind of a short chapter but it'll get veeeerrrrrrryyy interesting soon...ish. Also if you haven't already noticed I made some cover art for the story. You can see it and some other stuff like it on my DeviantART page! Username: ZimmyAwesomeUnicorn.**

**NOW FOR THE STORY PLOTZ!**

**Chapter 4: Plots**

Alice didn't stop running until she got home. Skidding to a halt and just barely avoiding slamming her face into the door, she opened the door and fell onto the cold, tile floor of the kitchen in a sweaty, tired mess. She wasn't that tired since she only lived about two blocks from the school and she had cut across several backyards but she needed a rest.

"Alice!" Ruby ran up to Alice in a mix of joy and panic.

As Alice sat up Ruby jumped into her lap, purring and nuzzling her. Alice wiped the sweat off her forehead and neck as she gently nudged Ruby off of her and stood up.

"I was so damn worried! What did they do to you?! Are you alright?!"

"Ruby, calm down. I'm fine." Alice sighed. "But I guess the only issue is I'm gonna to have to start going to Skool daily now."

"WHAT?! Alice, you can't! Someone could find out!"

"It'll be more suspicious if I don't go. Plus you said yourself that nothing is ever noticed or questioned in this place and I saw myself these people are either crazy or stupid! I'll be fine, Ruby." Alice explained, filling up a plastic cup with tap water.

"Sorry, I just get worried about you, Alice. We only have each other to look after us and I don't even have thumbs!" Ruby said holding up one of her paws.

Alice just sighed and chugged down her water without responding.

"Sorry…" Ruby muttered.

"It was six years ago. Let's just...try to move on. It would only hurt us." Alice shrugged. "Besides I'm starting to get a good feeling about this town."

"I wouldn't trust it for very long. This place gives me the creeps." Ruby sighed.

Alice smirked and splashed the remaining water in the cup in Ruby's face.

"Hey!" Ruby growled, shaking the water out of her fur.

"C'mon, Ruby, lighten up!" Alice giggled, grabbing a washcloth and threw it on her.

"Dammit, Alice. Alright. I'll be optimistic for now." Ruby eventually smiled.

"So what now?"

"I think I saw some yarn in the basement the other day." Alice smirked, turned around and heading for the stairs.

"Hey, wait for me dammit!" Ruby yelled, racing past her down the stairs.

…..

The remainder of the Skool day seemed to last an eternity. Maybe because Zim and Dib were just sitting in the nurse's office glaring at each other while their injuries were treated. Their brawl had been one of the most intense they had ever had. They had drawn blood from each other and Zim was still smoking from the water.

Dib's head was still analyzing his brief interaction with Alice earlier. She didn't seem like any possessed killer he knew of but those eyes screamed Soul Shadow. He hadn't seen her use any powers yet so he didn't have any real proof and he didn't have a way to get any since he didn't know where she lived. He'd have to find out. He just hoped he'd be able to confirm his suspicions without dying horribly.

He finally came back to reality and noticed Zim opening the door. "Where do you think you're going Spaceboy?" Dib asked with a glare.

"What does it look like Dib-stink? Zim is leaving." Zim growled, slamming the door behind him before Dib could ask any more questions.

He walked casually down the quiet, vacant halls and out the front doors to see a small crater in the sidewalk a few feet away from him.

"Hi Mastah!" Gir squealed jumping out of the pit.

His green doggy disguise was torn to shreds and burned in some areas. One of the eyes was falling off and he was covered in dirt.

"Gir! What did you do?!" Zim yelled as Gir ran up and hugged his middle tightly.

"I was waiting for yous! Then this pretty lady blew me up!" Gir cheered; not at all fazed that he had just cheated death.

Zim just sighed, frustrated, and shoved Gir off of him. "Well, fly us back home then. I've had enough of these humans for one day." he growled.

Gir saluted and grabbed Zim as he rocketed into the sky from the blue colored jets in his feet. A scream escaped Zim's throat as he was dragged roughly through the air and Gir laughed, doing several loops and spins for fun.

By the time Gir "landed" (or crashed) into the front lawn of the tiny green house that served as Zim's secret base Zim's throat was very sore and he was ready to puke. Gir face planted the dirt, breaking the wood fence in the process and the force of Gir's crash threw Zim into one of his security lawn gnomes.

He sat up and rubbed the newly formed bruise on his forehead and quickly dragged Gir inside before anyone noticed them.

"Gir, come with me. I want to run a test on your memory chip." Zim ordered, walking towards the elevator that led down into his real base, cleverly disguised as a toilet...in the kitchen.

Inside, Zim hooked a tangled mess of wires into Gir's head to analyze the data he had. Zim fast-forwarded the pointless things Gir always did, like playing with his rubber piggy toys and focused on what Gir had seen while he was in school.

In Gir's point of view he saw the new human dirt baby in his class hover over the fence and walk past Gir with a suspicious look.

"Hi!"

The human turned back with fear in her eyes. "Wh...What are you?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for my mastah."

"O...kay..?" the human raised an eyebrow and started to walk away.

The footage started to shake and move closer to the human. Zim assumed Gir was running towards her. When it stopped shaking Gir had his paws wrapped around the human's leg. He looked up at her shocked face.

"You're pwetty." he giggled.

Zim heard a scream and a blast of energy left the human's hand! There was a deafening explosion and the screen turned to show the sky, with a tower of smoke erupting into it.

Zim stood there, completely still and silent. His jaw dropped and his large bug eyes were even bigger than usual. In all his years on this horrid planet he had never seen that much power. Especially from a young human. He finally snapped out of his shocked trance and disconnected the wires from Gir.

"That power could be the ultimate super weapon against the humans! With something like that not even the Dib-worm could stop me. I just need to...Gir! I have a plan!" Zim announced turning to his minion with an evil grin, soon turning to a light chuckle and growing into a full evil cackle.

…..

'Agent Mothman reporting.

I have possibly located the Soul Shadow victim, Alexis Kent. I have no hard evidence at the moment but as soon as I find proof of her possession I will notify you immediately. I will not attempt to pursue her and will keep my distance. I hope it's her so we can capture her as quickly as possible and keep her from destroying the world.

Until next time, Mothman out.'

Dib read over his newly typed email and sighed. He was absolutely sure that it was her but for whatever reason he felt a twinge of guilt for turning her in. She seemed innocent enough, so it didn't seem likely that it was her, but the Soul Shadow has been known to be very deceptive and Alice's shyness could've just been an act.

Dib let out a frustrated groan and face planted his keyboard. "Maybe I can find something online about her." he muttered to himself.

He tried searching Soul Shadow and but he only got password protected government links. One after another he was kicked out of any websites that might be useful and very soon he was down to just one.

"This is hopeless. I'm not going to find anything. Oh well, I'll get kicked out real quick then go to bed." he sighed, clicking the final link.

This one was different. It was a blog that hasn't been updated in 4 years. Some girl had posted things about it, saying she knew the victim. One said "She knows what I did. I was only trying to survive. I have some power myself but nothing compared to her. I'll be dead within a week. Blown to bits or my limbs slowly torn off, one by one. Truly amazing power. Lexi could bring the world to its knees…"

Dib gulped and closed the window, a little bit uncomfortable. "Geez…" he muttered, backing away from the monitor slightly.

Then he realized something. He had just accidentally deleted the email to the Eyeballs before he sent it.

"Aw, dammit!" he cursed.

Sighing in defeat, he just shut down his computer and crawled into bed. He could just rewrite it the next day.

It would give him time to get more information on her anyways.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you dasnii for the follow and favorite. :)**

**Chapter 5: I Hate Skool Projects**

Dib, Zim, and Alice all trudged into Skool. All three of them having something big on their minds. Apparently too big to notice where they were going.

"Hey!" Zim and Dib growled at each other as they both tried to fit through the classroom door at the same time.

Alice followed close behind and knocked the boys inside, tripping over them in the process.

"Watch where you're going humans!" Zim growled, looking up to see who had landed on him. He froze when he saw Alice glaring back at him.

She stood up and brushed off her dress before holding her hands out to the two bickering boys who were still on the floor. Zim raised a nonexistent eyebrow and swatted the hand away and Dib hesitantly let her help him up. "Uh...thanks." Dib said, a bit confused.

Zim got off the floor himself and sat down in his seat as the other two walked to their desks. As Alice sat down she heard the other students whispering.

"Did she just help Dib up?"

"Give her a break. She's new. She probably doesn't know yet."

"Someone's gotta tell her soon."

"I heard from Jessica that they were talking in the lunchroom yesterday."

"Maybe she IS crazy. Too bad."

Alice shrunk in her seat more and more with every side conversation she heard before Ms. Bitters slithered into the room and the room grew deathly silent.

"Class, with the skool board's goal to help students get to know each other and reduce loneliness and misery among you. You will be paired up with another student for you next assignment." Ms. Bitters announced with hatred and venom overflowing in her voice as the students let out a collective groan of disappointment. "You will have two weeks to interact with your partner then compose an essay about them. Now because of our new student we no longer have an even number so, Alice!" Alice gulped and looked up at her teacher with her most innocent expression. "You will be put into two different groups and will have to write two different essays." Ms. Bitters hissed.

Alice resisted her urge to growl and curse as she began to pick groups. Dib couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Alice as he half listened for his name to be called.

Soon he started getting worried. His name wasn't being called and Ms. Bitters was running out of students. The problem was Zim's name hadn't been called either. Of course it would be great to try and write a convincing report about Zim being an alien, but there was no way in hell he was working with Zim. That little bug just pisses him off.

Eventually he couldn't think of anyone else left other than Zim and mentally groaned, waiting for the big reveal.

"Alice, you will be working with...Zim and Dib."

Collective shocked expression came across all three of their faces. Zim's turned into a suspicious evil grin. Alice's turned into a weary groan, and Dib just sighed in relief.

At recess Alice sat down on an old wooden bench and tried to think of what story she would use. With assignments like this she would no doubt have to lie. But what would be the most believable?

"Hey, Alice!" She was snapped out of her thoughts by Dib's voice and she looked up to see said big-headed boy running towards her.

"Oh, hi uh...Dib right?" Alice asked.

Dib nodded. "Sorry about earlier. Everyone says that I'm crazy so being around me won't really help your image at this place." Dib said, sitting down next to her.

"It's alright. I never cared what people thought of me anyway." Alice muttered.

"So...since we have to work on that project together I was wondering if you wanna…" Dib was interrupted when Zim shoved him off the bench and took his spot beside Alice.

"You are the Alice-human, yes? Well I am the almighty Zim and it appears we will be working on this "Skool project" together." Zim introduced.

"Oh...yeah. I remember you." Alice said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with how close he was.

"Zim is looking forward to knowing all about you." Zim said in a soft, almost creepy voice.

Dib shoved him off the bench and growled at him.

"There's no way she's falling for your alien plans Zim. Alice is way too smart for that." Dib said, crossing his arms proudly.

"Ha! Like Zim has said before, two against the Armada is no impressive feat Dib-filth." Zim snapped back, turning back to Alice with a fake friendly grin. "The Dib-human's massive head speaks nothing but insane lies. Now you will accompany Zim home after Skool to work on this Skool assignment." Zim ordered.

"My head's not big! Alice, he's trying to trick you. Don't fall for his plans!" Dib almost yelled.

"I am doing no such thing Dib. We are partners in this assignment and I am merely asking for her cooperation."

"Why you little-"

"Guys!" Alice stood up and stepped in between the two boys. "I just want to get this assignment done so I'll switch off between you guys every few days or so. Dib, just so you'll stop freaking out I'll go with you today." Alice sighed. She felt she was looking after a bunch of kindergartners.

"Yes! Jokes on you, Zim!" Dib cheered.

Alice groaned and rolled her eyes as the bell rang and everyone ran inside. The boys left, exchanging glares and cocky smirks and Alice followed behind them.

After Skool Alice sat on the front steps of the Skool waiting for Dib to walk out. While she was waiting a young girl came out. She looked about eleven or twelve, with purple hair and pale skin. She wore a black dress similar to hers with long purple sleeves, gray tights, black shoes, and a skull necklace.

The girl stood next to Alice, only glancing at her once through her squinted eyelids. A minute later Dib rushed out and stopped in front of the girls. "Oh, there you guys are. Alice, this is my little sister Gaz." Dib introduced. Alice gave a small wave and Gaz returned with a small, uninterested nod.

Alice stood up and followed the two down the sidewalk. She noticed Zim staring at her out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and looked back at him with an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach and a small amount of heat rising in her cheeks.

"Alice? You coming?" Alice snapped back to reality and saw Dib calling to her from the street corner. She blushed a little more and nodded, running to catch up with Dib and Gaz before they crossed the street.

They mostly walked in silence until they reached Dib and Gaz's home. Dib swung open the door and held open for the girls.

"Wow, what a gentlemen." Gaz muttered sarcastically.

Alice frowned a little at Gaz's cruel personality and sat down on the couch as she disappeared upstairs. "Is she always like that?" Alice asked as Dib sat down next to her.

"Yeah, but she's not that bad. So why don't you tell me about yourself." He said pulling a notepad out of his backpack.

"Well...uh…" Alice stuttered a little trying to think of something to say. "Since I have twice the work to do why don't you start." she finally said.

"Oh, well I do tend to ramble a lot."

"That's alright. It gives me more to work with." Alice smiled.

"Alright, you win. Let's see...well my dad's a famous scientist, the most famous in the world actually. Uh...I like hunting paranormal entities, well not really like, it's really a way of life for me, trying to hunt down aliens and ghosts and stuff." Dib rambled.

"Have you ever been successful?" Alice asked.

"Well uh...no. Not exactly." Dib said, embarrassed. "But I'm really close this time! I've been working on my latest plan to capture Zim, you know, since he's an alien and all. I was thinking of trying to sneak into his secret base and get him with a tranquilizer dart."

"Dib."

"And then hopefully I can get him to my dad's lab before wakes up-"

"Dib."

"And when he does wake up I'll do so many HORRIBLE experiments on him he'll look so mutilated no one will be able to recognize him as a living being!"

"DIB!"

Dib shrunk a little in fear at Alice's outburst and felt blush creeping onto his face. "S-sorry. I tried to warn you." he smirked.

Alice sighed and reluctantly smiled back. "I'm sorry but I think we'll need to reschedule." she said, standing up.

"What? Why?"

"I forgot to tell Ruby that I was going over here after Skool. She'll be worried sick."

"Ruby?"

"My uh…little sister! She always gets worried if I'm not home before her so I gotta run." Alice started making her way to the door.

"Wait! Can't I just go with you and we can keep going at your house?" Dib questioned.

"Sorry, I can't. Bye!"

Before Dib could catch her, Alice bolted out the door and down the street. She didn't stop running until she knew for sure Dib wasn't following her. She stopped to catch her breath a few minutes later when it hit her. She had no idea where she was.

…..

Ruby paced the house, frantic and stressed. She tossed the idea of going out to look for her around in her head so much it was starting to hurt. She eventually collapsed on the living room carpet with a frustrated sighed and found herself tearing up a little. She was almost ready to go out and find her when she heard the back door open. Her head shot up and she dashed to the door, slipping on the kitchen floor and crashing into the fridge.

"Ruby! You okay?" she looked up and ran to Alice who was on her knees with open arms. Alice sighed in relief and cuddled her best friend as she jumped into her arms.

"Alice, where the hell were you?! I was so damn worried!" Ruby cried.

"I'm just glad you didn't kill yourself over me being gone for an hour." Alice smirked, cradling Ruby as she walked into her room.

"What happened, Alice? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"It's some Skool project. Learning about our classmates or something." Alice said, laying down and pulling the blankets over her head.

"Alice! Don't treat this like a normal kid! This is dangerous!"

"Relax, I'm coming up with a little story to tell them. It'll be fine. Why are so worked up anyways?" Alice asked.

Ruby sulked. "It's just...it's my first time doing this. Taking care of you and all, and I just don't want anything to happen to you. I've been on my own for four years and I don't wanna be alone again!" Ruby said, tears streaming down her face.

Alice just sighed and hugged her. "You won't be alone. I promise."

….

Heavy rain poured down on the dark, quiet streets as people who had been caught in it rushed to find shelter. Ruby looked out at the rushing water from under a small, house-like fort of cardboard boxes next to a set of gritty apartments.

She peeled her eyes away from the rain and looked down and the gray kitten next to her. He shivered from the cold damp air and nuzzled closer to Ruby. Ruby sighed and wrapped her arm around him just before a shadow covered them.

Ruby looked up and saw a white cat with sparkling blue eyes. She was covered in dirt but her fur still seemed to glow in the streetlights. She nuzzled Ruby and the kitten next to her before lying down beside them. The young kitten opened his eyes with a quiet, adorable sneeze and his face brightened at the sight of her.

"Mommy!" the young kitten jumped to his feet and scampered over to her.

"Rusty, Ruby, it's good to see you. I'm glad you're both alright." their mother sighed, letting her kittens nuzzle her.

"I was so worried, mom. I thought you might not come back. I don't want me and Rusty to be alone!" Ruby cried.

"You'll never be alone, Ruby. You may outlive me but you'll have your brother and Lexi for a much longer time." her mother soothed.

"Lexi?"

"She'll be joining us again soon."

**AN: Dawwwwwwwwwww. In case you're confused that last part was a flashback to Ruby's family about 5 years before the present time. It's explained later but for now I don't want you guys to be confused. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Just so you guys know for a while this story's mainly going to be Alice and Zim and Dib bonding for a while. So if you are expecting heavy gore, violence and drama and such in the next few chapters you will be horribly disappointed. Sorry :P Thank you april7000222 for reviewing!**

**Chapter 6: More Awkwardness**

Alice stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed her things off the kitchen table. "Ruby, I'm going to skool now! I'll be late coming home again!" she called, turning towards the door.

She didn't get a response.

"Ruby?"

Alice walked back into her room and saw Ruby curled up in between the two pillows.

"Hey, I'm leaving now, okay?"

Ruby turned her head towards her and simply nodded.

"Something wrong?"

"It's nothing. Memories and all. You have fun at skool." Ruby said with a light smile.

Alice nodded and gave Ruby a small pet before she walked out the door.

The two of them had been like this before. Memories coming back to them from their past lives and not putting them in the best mood. They were supportive of each other but also knew that the other could handle themselves if given some time.

Alice ran down the street in a surprisingly happy mood. Maybe it was because for once she was more or less fitting in.

"HUMAN!"

She skidded to a halt and turned around to see Zim running up to her. "Oh, hey Zim. What's up?"

He tilted his head in a confused and squinted one of his eyes. Alice actually found it kind of cute. She felt blush on her cheeks as she dismissed the thought.

"So, Alice-human you are joining Zim today for this project, yes?"

"Well I didn't get to work with Dib much so I think I might be able to come over during the weekend." Alice explained.

"Stupid Dib-pig." Zim growled under his breath. "You WILL come with Zim today!" he ordered, reaching out for her wrist.

She was able to back away before he grabbed her and eyed his sudden change in his tone. "Well, someone's snappy." Alice muttered, continuing on her way.

"Zim is merely trying to warn you Alice-human." Zim said, grabbing her shoulder and turning.

"Warn me?"

"Yes, you heard correctly. The Dib-worm is crazy, if you haven't already noticed. You can't be sure what he will do." Zim said, sounding cold and ominous.

He shoved Alice out of the way and continued walking to Skool. Alice just stood there; trying to process the information she was given.

"...what he'll do..?" Alice repeated to herself.

She turned to follow Zim to Skool and saw a clock in someone's front window. It read 7:55.

"Crap I'm gonna be late!" Alice yelped, turning on her heel and dashing off.

…..

Zim trudged into the classroom with about a minute before the bell rang. He was confused and frustrated with that Alice-human.

How dare she decline meeting with Zim to spend time with the Dib-pig?! Dib. That was it. He must've gotten to her with his alien ranting and gained her trust before he even got a chance. He had to of known of her power and is trying to keep him from being able to use her for his plan!

Zim growled and glared at Dib who was staring out the window and tapping his fingers on his desk. He stomped over to him and grabbed his collar, snapping him back to reality. "Don't think I'm not on to you Dib. You will not foil Zim's plan this time!"

Dib pushed his nemesis away and glared back. "Ha! You think I won't stop you? I've done it a million times before and I'll do again. I won't stop until you're exposed!" Dib said, standing up on his desk, though he had no idea what plan Zim was talking about. He just liked making Zim paranoid that he did know.

"Just try to stop me you little-"

"Zim! Dib! Sit down!" Miss Bitters hissed.

The boys gave a quite squeak of fear and sat down in less than a second.

A few seconds later Zim's antenna twitched under his wig as he heard loud, fast footsteps running down the hall. He heard panting in front of the door and then Alice calmly walked through the door calmly with sweat running down her face.

"You're late, Alice." Miss Bitters snarled.

"I'm aware of that." Alice muttered, panting as she walked to her seat.

At lunch Alice sat down with Dib and Gaz at their table, now claiming it as her usual spot.

"So you told your sister you were coming over today right?" Dib asked with a smile.

"Oh! Yeah, I did. I'll be able to stay until dinner." Alice said, mentally cursing that she didn't have any more excuses.

She sighed and poked at whatever kind of substance was on her lunch tray and without paying attention put it in her mouth.

"Uh...I wouldn't do that if I were you." Dib said.

Alice finally realized what she had just done "HOLY-"

Every student and staff member in the lunch room cringed and the words that erupted from Alice's mouth.

After a trip to the nurse's office the day went on until FINALLY with a sigh of relief Alice heard the beautiful sound of the final bell.

Dib and Alice walked out together, a bit awkwardly since neither of them had much to say.

"So...are you feeling okay?" Dib asked.

Alice just shrugged. "I've been better but for now my organs aren't melting." she smirked. "Does that normally happen?"

"Yeah, sorry I didn't tell you." Dib rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's fine. I'm sure I'll be okay."

"Alright."

When Dib and Alice walked into the door Gaz was already sitting on the couch, her fingers rapidly pushing the buttons on her Game Slave 2.

"We should probably talk upstairs." Dib said to Alice as he crossed the room and headed up the stairs. Alice was about to question why but then saw a dark glare from Gaz and quickly followed Dib.

There was a sense of awkwardness in the air as Alice stepped into Dib's room and sat down on his bed across from him.

"So uh...why don't you tell me about your family?" Dib said, grabbing a notebook out of his backpack.

"Well...um…" Alice stuttered.

"You already told me you had a sister so what's she like?"

"Huh? Oh, Ruby. Well, she is really nice but she does tend to joke around a lot. Sometimes that can go a little far. But she really looks up to me since I'm really the oldest person she knows anymore." Alice said.

"What about your parents?"

Alice looked up at him and sighed, not saying a word.

"What's wrong?"

Alice blinked back tears and could barely speak. "I...I don't have my parents anymore."

Dib froze. "Oh! I-I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"That because I didn't tell you. It's not your fault." Alice said, attempting to smile.

"So you two are alone?"

"Basically. We have our aunt paying the bills and everything but she's never around. I just wake up every day and find money for food on the table." Of course she was making that up but she couldn't explain she was a runaway. He could turn her into the police.

"I know how you must feel." Dib said. "My dad works non-stop. He's rarely ever home much less has time to be with me and Gaz. He's like a stranger to us. And my mom…" Dib felt water in his eyes. "...she died when Gaz was a baby. I barely even knew her."

"Maybe it's best if you didn't." Alice muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's just...try to focus on the assignment."

…..

"So after all that she STILL thought it wasn't my real head. She just thought it was fake and my normal sized head was in my shirt! Is this head THAT big?!" Dib ranted.

Alice giggled and grabbed a ruler off Dib's desk. "Hmm...It isn't as big as everyone keeps saying…" she smirked.

"Really?!" Dib beamed.

"It's still bigger than normal of course."

Dib sighed and face-planted on the desk. "Well at least you put it nicely." he muttered.

Alice giggled again and looked at the alarm clock on Dib's bedside table. "Oh crap! I was supposed to be home an hour ago!" Alice yelped. Dib was about to respond when they heard something outside Dib's window. "Huh? How did that cat get all the way up here?"

Sure enough Ruby was pawing at the window, staring at Alice. She nodded towards the door and then left. "Well I better get going. See ya tomorrow!" Alice called, running downstairs and out the door. "Uh...bye." Dib muttered. "Agent Mothman?" Dib looked up and saw Darkbooty on his computer screen. "Why have you not reported your finding on the Soul Shadow yet?"

"Oh! I was just about to send it in."

"Well hurry up and send it! It's going to take long enough to get a team out there to retrieve her so we need that information ASAP!"

Dib gulped and nodded before shutting off the transmission. "Ugh...I have to stay focused. Alice may act normal but she's an evil, possessed murderer. I'm going to have to start getting more information out of her..."

…..

"So how did you find me?" Alice asked.

"I'm like a bloodhound with you. Plus I was watching you leave after Skool." Ruby smiled.

"You were stalking me?!"

"Oh, relax. On another topic who was that boy you were talking to?" Ruby smirked.

"He-he's just some guy I have to work on a project with! That's it!" Alice blushed.

"Heh, alright. Just don't get carried away." Ruby laughed.

"Oh, shut up you!"

…..

"Lexi sweetie! Time to go!"

Alexis looked over at her closed bedroom, where the voice had come from. She quickly pulled on her white long sleeve shirt with pink striped sleeves and straightened her jean skirt. "I'm coming Mommy!" she yelled, grabbing her black backpack with glow in the dark stars and ran out of her room.

Hopping down the stairs, she was greeted by a tall beautiful woman with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. "C'mon sweetie. Don't wanna be late for the first day." she smiled, handing Lexi her lunch as they made their way to the car.

During the car ride to school Lexi kept playing with her hair and looking at herself in her reflection in the window.

"Lexi? Something wrong?" her mom asked as they pulled up at the school.

"I don't know. Something doesn't look right." Lexi shrugged.

Her mom frowned and thought for a second. She untied her hair and put Lexi's hair up, adjusting her red music note hair clip.

"You always look prettier with a ponytail." she smiled.

"Thanks mom!" Lexi smiled, opening the car door and skipping towards the school.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thank you OptimusPrimegirl213 for following, favoriting and leaving a review on this story and my other stories as well. I really appreciate it. Also sorry to everyone reading Stuff Happens. I promise I'm not abandoning the story. These chapters just take less time to write and I've been getting a lot of ideas for this one.**

**Chapter 7: Plans Begin**

Zim stood up and took the protective goggles off his head as he backed up to admire his latest project. He wiped the sweat off his brow with an evil smirk on his face. "You see this Gir?" he asked turning to the robot that was rolling around and laughing on the floor.

Zim growled, irritated, and stormed over to Gir and slapped him. "Gir! Pay attention!" he ordered.

Gir stood up and saluted, his eyes flashing red for a split second.

"Good. Now this device you see before you will help us understand the chemical structure of the Alice-creature who attacked you several days ago." Zim said gesturing to the large tube shaped device covering in wires and several monitors. "But to keep our identities a secret we'll have to gain the dirt child's trust." Zim said adding a bit of disgust to his voice. "This is NOT going to be easy Gir."

"Daww! I get it!" Gir squealed.

"What?"

"You're gonna ask the pretty lady out on a date!" Gir giggled, poking Zim's cheek.

"I-GIR! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Zim yelled, roughly shoving Gir off his face.

"Don't you like her?" Gir asked, tilting his head adorably.

"I don't know where your insane mind goes when I talk to you but that human monster is a pawn in my scheme! NOTHING MORE! Besides, why would I be so idiotic and so...defective to fall for a stupid, smelly human? Or...whatever she is."

"But she's so pretty!" Gir squealed.

Zim groaned and put on his disguise grumbling to himself.

"Master." his house computer called.

"WHAT?!"

"Jeez, I just wanted say you're going to be late. Ungrateful jerk."

Zim cocked his head and turned to a small clock on the wall.

"IRK-DAMMIT!"

….

"DIB!" Gaz called from downstairs.

Dib jumped at his little sister's voice and hurriedly continued to shove equipment into his Skool bag.

When she didn't hear a response Gaz growled and stormed up to his room, kicking the door in. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I'm just packing up my spy gear for after Skool. I'll be down in a minute." Dib explained, shoving another camera into his bag.

"You're spying on Zim again?" Gaz rolled her eyes.

"No! Well...I guess I will be but that's not the point! Alice is up to something and I need to figure out what." Dib said, zipping up his bag.

"So we've gone from stalker to pervert. How nice."

"G-Gaz! I'm not being a pervert!" Dib blushed.

"Yeah, okay. Just don't come back with her underwear." Gaz said leaving the room.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Dib called, running out of the house.

…..

"So it's a different boy today?" Ruby asked looking up from her food bowl.

"Yeah I have two assignments to do with two different partners. So I'm gonna check in with the other guy today and over the weekend."

"What's his name?"

"Zim."

"Is he nice?"

"That isn't exactly the word I'd use."

"Is he smart?"

"Meh. It's hard to tell. He seems smart but I heard one time he called a muffin a 'pork cow' or something. Then again I might do the same thing with the food they serve at that place." Alice shrugged taking a sip of her water.

"Is he cute?"

Alice covered her mouth to keep from spitting out her water all over her half eaten breakfast. "Well?" Ruby said jumping up on the table. Alice swallowed her water and turned away from her feline companion to hide the blush on her cheeks.

"Well...he's got this gross skin condition and he looks really weird but...he kinda like a dirty stray dog. He's filthy, beat up, a little mean and you don't really feel sorry for him but he still has a fluffy face and large beady eyes that makes you wanna hug him."

"HA! You admit it! You do have a crush!" Ruby laughed, triumphantly.

"I never said I liked him! He's a total jackass." Alice growled.

"Oh, come on! You say he's cute but you don't like him? I'm calling bullshit on that."

"Like I said, he's not cute like a boyfriend or anything. He's cute like a pet at best."

"But you still think he's cute."

Alice sighed, frustrated, and got up. "Whatever. I'm going to Skool."

"Try to find out if he already has a girlfriend!" Ruby called with a snicker as Alice left the house.

"Piss off!"

…..

"...and that's why we are all destined to survive on the flesh of our friends and family."

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes as she laid her head down on her desk. She looked up at Dib and across the room at Zim. They both seemed to be bursting with impatience to get out of the death trap the three of them were confined to for the remaining 3 hours of the Skool day.

Her eyes shifted between the two boys and she eventually lifted her head up and hesitantly tapped Dib's shoulder. "Hey, can I borrow some paper?" she whispered.

Dib smiled and ripped a page out of his notebook. He slid his hand under her desk and handed the white sheet to her, undetected by Ms. Bitters. Alice nodded in thanks and started drawing on it with her pencil.

Then everything seemed to go black.

…..

"You're quite the little sketcher, Alexis. I've never seen a child your age with such talent." the white cat complimented while looking over Lexi's latest sketch.

"Thanks Scarlet. But I don't think I'm that good." Alexis blushed taking the notepad back.

"Nonsense! You have a real talent, whether you realize and accept it or not." Scarlett smiled, hooking the strap of a dark green bag around her neck.

"Could you look over the kittens from me again? I hate to have to give you so much responsibility over them but I need to look for food and I can't leave them alone." she asked, turning back to her.

"Why don't I go looking for food? That way you can stay here and take care of them." Alexis asked, standing up.

"I know it might be easier for both of us but if you get caught by someone they could call the police. I don't want that to happen to you, Dear. You're part of the family now." Scarlet said jumping up on the back wall of the enclosed apartment complex.

"And this family doesn't let any of its members get taken away."

…

Alice's head shot up as the final Skool bell rang and students hopped up from their desks with joy.

"Did I fall asleep?" Alice asked herself.

She looked down at the sheet of paper on her desk to see her unfinished drawing of girl playing with her cat. She sighed and picked it up but taking a second glance at it she saw more. The light shining through the paper revealed something had been drawn on the back of the page. She took one of her hands off the paper and saw her fingers were stained shiny silver from the pencil lead. Her curiosity sadly getting the best of her, she flipped the paper over and gasped in horror.

The image was dark and harshly scribbled on the page. It was a creature with long sharp claws and a terrifying smile, accompanied by a pair of hollow, evil eyes staring right back at her. She moved her thumbs and saw a sentence written very rushed and almost unreadable underneath the image along with the number 813 written neatly in the corner.

tHE tiME Is DRaWiNG nEAr.

As Alice stared at the words something grabbed the paper out of her hands and pulled on her arm. She let out a small scream and saw Zim holding onto her with an irritated look on his green face.

"Come, Alice-human." he said, dragging Alice out of the room.

When they got to the hallway Alice lightly shoved him off her arm and followed his lead. They weaved through the mass of moving students and eventually got out the door and on their way to Zim's house. Or so Alice thought.

"So what are we doing at the park?" Alice asked, sitting down next to Zim on a bench.

"Zim does not fully trust you to see the amazing house of Zim quite yet." Zim explained.

"I see. And what must I do to obtain this trust?" Alice asked in a mocking tone.

Zim shot her a glare and sat back on the bench. "You have been conversing with the Dib-stink, yes?"

Alice nodded.

"And he has told you of his ridiculous alien accusations?"

Nod.

"So…" Zim leaned in close to her. "Do you believe him?" he asked softly.

Alice felt her cheeks heating up. "W-well...he may not be wrong but he doesn't seem to be very mentally stable." She said, attempting to back up.

Zim pulled away from her and back into his original position. "Alright then. Let us begin the assignment." he said as if he hadn't acting like a complete creep a few seconds earlier. "Uh...okay."

The next few hours consisted of nothing more than awkward questioning and jotting down notes.

"Hey, do you know the time?" Alice asked.

"Of course! Why?" Zim cocked his head.

"Just like a dog." Alice thought with a smile.

"Could you tell me what it is?" Alice asked, with a giggle.

"Oh, um...5:47." Zim said, after a minute of thought.

"Okay, thanks." Alice said, standing up and rubbing her sore back.

"Where are you going?" Zim glared at her.

"I need to get home. But thanks for telling me everything I wanted to know." Alice smiled. "So is anytime tomorrow good for you?"

Zim pondered the question for a bit. "Meet Zim back here at 2 o'clock tomorrow." he said, standing up and taking a few steps in the opposite direction. "Don't be late." he warned, turning to her one more time.

Alice nodded and ran off down the path.

…

Dib stepped out of the Skool bathroom in his stealth suit and hid behind a set of lockers as Zim and Alice ran past him without seeing him.

Dib followed them at a distance, ducking behind bushes and garbage cans as they walked together in silence with the occasional awkward small talk. Dib stopped at the entrance to the park and hid in one of the trees. He didn't want to risk getting caught. If Zim tried anything he'd no doubt hear it.

Hours past and as the sun was just starting to set Alice stepped out of the park. Dib sighed to himself that she was unharmed. He slowly made his way out of the tree. Halfway down his foot slipped and he lost his grip, falling into the bushes.

Alice jumped back and built up a small ball of energy behind her back as she cautiously walked up to the rustling bush.

"Hey, Alice." Dib said rubbing a bruise on his head.

"D-Dib?!" The energy broke apart in her hand and she went to help Dib up. "Can anyone just walk by and say 'hey' in this place? You scared the shit out of me!" she asked.

Dib snickered and brushed himself off. "Sorry."

"What are you wearing?" she asked.

"Oh, this is nothing. I'm just...uh…"

"Trying to be a ninja?" Alice smirked.

"Yeah, I guess." Dib rubbed the back of neck, embarrassed.

"Well, good luck with...whatever it is you're doing. You weren't spying on my though, right?" Alice gave him a suspicious glance.

"N-no! Of course not!" Alice nodded.

"Good. I thought I was going to have to put a security system on my bras or something." she laughed.

Dib stuttered and blushed but was able to give a light smile.

"Alright, well, I gotta get going. I'll see you around, Dib." Alice said, turning away with a small wave.

Dib shyly waved back and sighed, thinking in the back of his head that he had planned on following her. He sat down against a tree and sighed, weighing his options.

"Alice trusts me right now. If I try to follow her now she'll never forgive me. She'd probably kill me. If I give it some time it'll be easier to her to overlook if she catches me. Yeah, that's what I'll do." Dib nodded to himself as he stood up and started his walk home.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Whole lotta thanks today! Thank you to DarkDremora4, wolfgirl785573, AlwaysReading42, xForeverGamerx and april7000222 for faving and following.**

**Chapter 8: Puppies and Kittens**

Sergeant Slab Rankle stood proudly in the mall security room in front of the dozens of monitors that surrounded him. Each showing one of the many closed down stores in the mall.

"Sleep tight, sweet mall. Sergeant Slab Rankle is on the job! And when Slab Rankle is on the job he's-what?!" The veins pulsed on his forehead as he glared at the camera in front of the House of Lard.

A gray blur dashed across the screen for just a split second.

Slab growled and grabbed the microphone to the PA system. "I can see you crawling around in here! The mall is closed at the moment! But if you start running now you might have a chance to get out!" He called to the strange trespasser.

The figure came into view on another screen. Small and crawling for its life.

Rankle smirked at this.

Suddenly it dashed off in the blink of an eye. How the hell was it so fast? Slab growled and hit a button on the control panel on the arm on his chair. They weren't getting away.

"This guy is just plain nuts. I better ditch this place. There should be a shopping center I can go to for everything else." Ruby muttered to herself as she slinked around the fountain towards the steps that led to the first floor.

She gripped the bag tight in her teeth and was ready to make a run for it when the fountain, which was raining water down like it normally would be, suddenly shut off. This made the mall almost unbearably quiet.

Ruby gulped and readied herself again. Her ears perked up at the sound of a high pitched beeping noise. It was coming from one of the plastic figures outside one of the restaurants on her left then came another beeping noise on her right and one more right behind her. Motion detectors.

This guy was clearly waiting for her to do something. She took a deep breath and focused on the open doorway to the stairs. She shot forward like a bullet and so did the security system.

She soon saw large claws coming towards her, ready to tie her up and leave her to whatever that wacko had in mind. She saw the first two coming in on both sides and quickly gaining on her. They shot out to her but Ruby jumped over a small bench and up a fake tree, just in time to see the two claws crash and tangle up in one another.

Ruby sighed and hopped down from the tree. She began to check if the items in her bag were damaged while sadly forgetting about the third claw.

It shot for her just as she was putting the bag back over her shoulder. She tried to dodge it but the wire struck her side and flew her straight into the pets supply store. She crashed through the glass window which set off the alarm but thankfully the claw had gotten mixed up with the other two and had impaled them all in the tree.

She shook off her sudden impact and winced at a sharp pain it the side she had fallen on. Her fur was slowly being stained red with a small piece of glass sticking out. She winced in pain but pulled out the glass with her mouth and tossed it aside. She really had to get home.

Something dropped off of a shelf next to her but she paid no mind to it. She heard heavy footsteps nearby and made her way as quickly as she could behind the counter. She tried to calm down and steady her breathing but inside she was filled with pure panic.

"I know you're in here." Slab said, walking into the store through the broken window. He scanned around the dark store as Ruby grabbed the bag and began to slink out of the mall. It was probably just her growing weakness from blood loss but her bag felt a bit heavier than before.

She was able to slip away down the stairs while trying to keep her blood from making a trail that he could find.

She panted in complete exhaustion after she had made it out into the parking lot. She didn't have anything to patch her wound and it was a long walk back home. "What am I gonna do?" Ruby sighed to herself. She sat down by a broken street lamp to catch her breath and check to make sure she had everything.

As she started to shuffle around in the bag she heard a squeaking noise getting closer to her. She looked up and saw a green dog skipping down the street with a Suck Monkey in its nubby black paws. When it saw Ruby it stopped and stared at her.

"Uh...h-hello?" Ruby said, shyly.

The dog then grinned insanely and ran up to her. Ruby would've run but she was too weak and freaked out to move.

"HI!" it screamed in her face.

Ruby then noticed the zipper on the dog's chest. Okay this was not, in any sense of the word, a dog.

"My name's, Gir! Wut's your's?" Gir asked, wagging his little tail in anticipation.

"I'm-" Ruby was cut off by Gir grabbing her and looking closely at her side. "You've got boo-boos!" he whined.

As Ruby tried to regain herself she stared in shock as Gir ripped his head open and a first-aid kit popped out. Ruby didn't question it for the moment. A green dog with a zipper was already high on the weird-o-meter. She just sighed and took the kit with a shaky 'thank you'.

As Ruby wrapped and cleaned her wound Gir sat down next to her and started rummaging through her bag. "Ooo!" he giggled, pulling out a bag of old taquitos.

"Funny. I don't remember getting those. Did they fall in the bag when I crashed? That would make sense but then why would there be taquitos in a pet store?" Ruby said to herself.

"You can have those if you want uh...Gir, right?"

Gir giggled and nodded, tearing into the bag.

Ruby smiled at him but it soon turned to a depressed sigh. "It was nice to meet you Gir and thank you for saving me but I need to go." she said, grabbing the bag and running off down the dark city streets, before Gir could say anything back.

…..

Ruby paced across the alley, waiting for Alexis. She never let herself be late but today she hadn't shown up yet. What was taking her?

While Ruby was deep in thought she tripped over something and stumbled out of her thoughts. She was able to regain her balance and saw the little ball of fur she had tripped over. "Stop following me, Rusty! You keep making me trip!"

Rusty giggled and bounded over to his big sister.

"He just wants to play with you, Ruby. You can take a few minutes for that, right?" Scarlet said, from inside the pile of old boxes they had called a home.

"But, mom, what about Alexis?"

"She'll be here soon. Don't' worry about it."

While they talked Rusty jumped up on a small box next to Ruby and pawed at her ear with a giggle. Ruby turned and smirked at him. She grabbed him and pulled down to the ground. The two rolled around for a little bit and were soon running around and swatting at each other in a full play fight. Ruby purposely went easy on her brother and eventually he pinned her.

The kittens giggled and continued to play until a shadow covered the alley. They both looked up with bright eyes and dashed up to the little girl standing there.

"Sorry I'm late guys. I had some homework to do." Alexis said as Ruby and Rusty jumped into her lap, purring.

"It's just nice to see you, dear." Scarlet smiled, stretching as she came to greet her.

Rusty noticed a plastic bag next to Alexis as he cuddled her and went to investigate. He sniffed the edge of the bag and tried to take another step but he lost his footing and fell in. Everyone turned to the rustling bag until Rusty popped out, squeaking a toy mouse in his mouth with a huge smile on his face.

"What's all this Alexis?" Scarlet asked, helping her kitten out of the bag.

"My neighbors were moving away and they were giving away all their cat's things since they couldn't go with them." Alexis explained.

Ruby and Scarlet peeked into the bag and pulled out an assortment of toys, foods and soft blankets and pillows.

"Oh, Alexis. Thank you so much. We could really use these." Scarlet smiled, giving Alexis a small nuzzle.

"You're welcome guys. I need to go home for dinner but I'll be back tomorrow." she said, standing up and brushing off her clothes.

"We'll be waiting, dear." Scarlet waved, turning back to her kittens that were already playing with the toys.

Later that night Ruby was napping to regain the energy she lost playing with her brother when she woke up to something nudging her. She opened her eyes and turned to see Rusty, lightly poking her with his paw.

"What is it, Rusty?" she asked, with a yawn.

Rusty picked up the mouse toy from earlier in his mouth and squeaked it quietly.

"I can't play right now. Mom said to never go out at night unless we have to. Can it wait 'till morning?" Ruby asked, laying her head back down.

"No..." Rusty said, dropping the mouse and pushing it towards her. "It's for you."

"For me? Why?"

Rusty smiled and lay down next to his sister, nuzzling her. "Cuz you're the best sister ever." he said, before falling asleep.

Ruby looked at her sleepy brother and then back to the toy. She smiled and cuddled him keeping the mouse next to her too.

…..

Ruby sighed in relief when she found the familiar suburb streets and quickly made her way home. She had worried for a minute she had forgotten how to get back. She quietly sneaked inside and dropped the bag on the kitchen floor before going into Alice's room and finding her knocked out.

Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes. She could tell Alice had tried to stay up for her but had completely crashed maybe an hour ago. Ruby pulled the cover up closer to her neck and walked out of the room to put away her things.

She hated to resort to stealing but it was the only way they could survive. They only ever took what they needed, never anything too expensive. They had been running low on a few things that she hadn't been able to get a full amount of before Alice had escaped so she had gone out to get more.

After everything was put away Ruby went to put the bag away when she heard something hit the floor. She turned and saw a dirty, slightly tattered toy mouse. Ruby picked it up and put it back in the bag's inner pocket, giving it a light kiss as she did.

She tossed the bag in the closet as if it was suddenly infested with bees and just sat in front of the closet for a few minutes. Ruby felt tears in her eyes but quickly wiped them away and ran back to Alice's room. She curled up next Alice and sighed, closing her eyes.

She opened them again not a minute later and stood up, going back to the closet. She opened it and took the mouse out of the bag while also properly hanging the bag up on a small hook on the inside of the door. She went back to the room and laid down, falling asleep in seconds with the toy tightly held in her paws.

**AN: Yay all Ruby chapter! But it was so feels... ;_;**

**Sorry for the millionth time that I keep taking so long with just my stories in general. I just get easily sidetracked and some days I just don't wanna. But school starts up again in less than 4 weeks for me and then I'll be back on a schedule and I'll have things to do so I cannot get a headache every time I try to write. Does that make sense? It doesn't? Well I don't care and neither should you. Just give me another month and then I'll be able to get my content out faster. That means more stories for you! :D**

**At the moment I'm doing a lot more content on my DA (a lot of it related to my stories) so you can check it out if you wanna see what else I do with my free time other than staring at a blank wall and rethinking my life. URL is in my profile.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks to Invader Techno for following and favoriting**

**Chapter 9: Would This Be Considered a Date?**

"Where you goin' Masta?" Gir asked with a giggle skipping up to Zim who was walking towards the door.

"I have scheduled a meeting with the Alice-human. I'll be back later." Zim said shoving a tiny heart-shaped chibi charm into his pocket.

"Daww. Masta's in love." Gir giggled.

"No Gir! For the last time Zim loves no one but ZIM!"

Gir just giggled and rolled his eyes running of to Irk knows where. Zim growled and stomped out the door.

…

"Really, Alice. I was fine." Ruby said, taking another bite of food.

"I still feel bad that I wasn't there to help you. You were unbelievably lucky that green dog thing saved you." Alice sighed as she walked around the house trying to find what she needed.

"Yeah, he's like one big plot convince and-whoa whoa whoa! Where are you going with all that stuff?" Ruby eyed her as Alice headed for the door with their bag stuffed with Alice's things, including her coat and notebook.

"I'm going out to meet up with Zim." Alice explained.

"Alright. Just be careful."

Alice rolled her eyes and nodded as she hopped off the front step. She dashed down the street with a smile on her face and more energy than she first thought she'd have. She was just meeting up with Zim so what was she so cheerful about? She didn't try to come up with a reason and she soon stopped in front of the park's entrance.

Red leaves crunched underneath her feet as she walked inside the dense patch of trees. A gust of wind blew through knocking another layer of leaves to the ground without a single sound. "I haven't actually walked through a park in years. I never did appreciate it." Alice sighed to herself.

She saw a bright red leaf floating down towards the ground in front of her and she quickly but gently snatched it out of the air. She looked at it and twirled it around in her fingers before reaching up and grabbing another one out of the air. She carefully stuck them into her bow and smiled, remembering all the autumn leaves she used to collect when she was little until her mom would make her throw them away.

"What are you doing?" She turned around and saw Zim walking up from behind her.

"I was just passing the time while I was waiting for you." Alice answered.

"Zim didn't expect you to be on time." Zim said giving her a suspicious glance.

"Well you said not to be late. So I wasn't." Alice shrugged.

"Well then, shall we continue with this assignment?" Zim muttered, trying really hard to sound pleasant.

Alice nodded silently and sat down on the park bench.

Zim sat next to her and growled to himself.

…

"So tell me about your family." Alice smiled.

Zim was growing impatient. It had been an hour already and he still didn't feel like he was establishing a bond with the Alice-creature.

"Zim has no family." Zim said, turning back to her.

"Oh, sorry." Alice muttered.

"What about you human?"

"I don't really have one either. It's just me and my little sister." Alice shrugged.

"I guess that's something we have in common."

"I suppose." Zim shrugged.

Alice sighed and looked up at the sky. Through the trees she saw gray clouds beginning to block out their sunlight. "Looks like it's going to rain soon." She muttered to herself.

Zim turned to her with a hint of panic in his eyes. "Rain?" he gulped silently remembering that he had neglected to apply water protection today. Or in other words he forgot to take a bath in Elmer's glue which covered his pores to keep water from getting in and injuring him.

"Yeah. And hard. Those clouds are ready to burst." Alice continued which did not help ease Zim's fears.

"Then perhaps we should seek shelter." he said.

Alice smirked at his sudden nervousness and grabbed her bag. "C'mon. We'll go find somewhere to hang out so we can stay dry."

Zim nodded and stood up as a small charm fell out of his pocket and hit the pavement with a small clink. "What's that?" Alice cocked her head while Zim picked it up. "Oh this? It's a little charm I got from an old friend of mine." Zim smirked.

"Aww. That's a really cute charm. Let's get going" Alice smiled pulling towards him out of the park and towards the city.

By the time the sky over them was completely covered by storm clouds they had a Crazy Taco restaurant in their sights.

"I'll race ya. Last one to the taco place gets soaked!" Alice called dashing down the sidewalk.

She grinned as Zim fell behind her. Or so she assumed. When she looked to her side Zim was right there next to her and quickly gaining the lead. Alice tried to keep up but soon Zim was way ahead of her. Small drops started to hit the pavement as Zim skidded to a halt under the awning.

The rain started to fall harder with every passing second. By the time Alice made her way to the safety of the awning over the building she was drenched.

"Victory! Victory for Zim!" Zim cheered raising his fists to the sky.

Alice growled at him and flicked the drops of water on her hand at his face. He let out a loud girly yelp and Alice smirked at him. "Don't ruin Zim's victory with your losing soreness human!" Zim whined.

Alice giggled under her breath and started to wring out her hair and dress. "Alright let's go inside. I'm getting cold." Alice shivered opening the door.

Zim marched in and Alice walked in behind him rolling her eyes. Zim gagged at the repulsive place and Alice pulled him to a relatively clean booth by the windows.

…

"You really did that?!" Alice asked in amazement quickly writing down what Zim had told her.

"Of course. But then my instructor stopped letting Zim use most of the equipment." Zim said proudly.

Alice smiled and finished writing down her notes.

"Man will this rain ever let up? It's been like two hours." she sighed staring out the window. "Ugh. Gir probably destroyed everything already." Zim growled. "I must find some way to get back to my house."

Alice's eyes suddenly lit up and she quickly started digging through her bag. "Ha! I knew I bought this!" Alice smiled triumphantly holding up a folded up black umbrella.

"What will a rod do to help this situation?" Zim asked sounding impatient.

"It's an umbrella stupid." Alice laughed.

"Zim is not stupid!" Zim pouted crossing his arms over his chest.

Alice rolled her eyes and grabbed Zim's arms pulling him out of the table and towards the door. Zim ripped himself from her grip and glared at her as she slipped on her jacket.

"So do you really not know what an umbrella is?" Alice asked.

"Of course I know!" Zim snapped. "It's a...uh…" he pondered.

"It's to keep us from getting wet outside." Alice smirked opening it up.

"Zim knew that!" Zim snatched the umbrella from her hands and held it over his head cautiously stepping out into the downpour. Alice walked next to him watching the rain drip off their small cloth and metal water shield.

"Why are you standing so close to me human?" Zim asked as they stopped at a crosswalk.

Alice blushed. "I'm just trying to stay dry too." she said grabbing a part of the handle.

"Well...just...not too close!" Zim growled.

"Personal space issues much?" Alice asked.

"Zim has no issues." Zim grumbled.

The two for the most part walked in an awkward silence until they reached Zim's house. "Wow." Alice muttered staring up at the tall green house with a purple roof and large garden gnomes in the front yard.

"You are impressed by Zim's home yes?" Zim asked with a cocky smirk.

"It's certainly...original." Alice shrugged with a smile.

Zim beamed with over-flowing amounts of pride as they walked up onto the doorstep.

"Y'know Zim, for a guy with a stick up his butt most of the time, this was nice." Alice smiled.

"Eh? Zim has no Earth tree limb up my-"

"No! I didn't mean it like you really...I just had fun talking with you." Alice finally sighed.

Zim nodded in understanding and the two stared at each other for an awkward moment before Alice spoke again. "Well...I guess I'll see you at Skool Monday. Bye!" she waved walking down the pathway towards the street as Zim went inside.

He watched her walk down the street with her umbrella in hand and bag bouncing at her side with its contents held securely inside. He continued to eye her from the window until she disappeared around the corner.

Zim chuckled to himself and it grew into a loud evil laugh that echoed through the base.

"What's so funny Master?" Gir asked walking into the room.

"My bait has been set Gir! Soon the Alice-beast will be the key to completing our mission on this planet and bringing the human race to its knees!" Zim grinned evilly.

"Yay! Mastah's gonna have babies!"

"GIR!"

…

Ruby opened her eyes as she heard the door open and Alice stepped into the room as she finished yawning and stretching.

"Man, I'm beat. Who knew you can get so tired just talking with someone?" Alice muttered giving Ruby a pet.

"So I'm guessing the date went well." Ruby smirked.

"It wasn't a date! If you're wondering I got plenty of information for my paper and I think Zim got the same thing." Alice said dropping the bag on the floor.

Ruby dug through everything but just before she could grab the notebook full of Alice's notes Alice snatched it. "Will you stop pairing me up with a mutual friend I have for ONE day?"

Ruby let out an annoyed huff. "Well if you two aren't a couple then why the hell is THIS in here?" Ruby asked pulling out a certain little charm with her mouth.

"Hey! Gimme that!" Alice yanked it out of her mouth and Ruby beamed.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! You got that for your little crush didn't you!"

"No this isn't mine!"

"Then who's is it?"

"...Ah crap!"

**AN: Don't ask me why Gir thinks Zim is in a relationship now. It's Gir people. XD**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Right Into His Trap**

Alice dashed up to Skool building on Monday morning with Zim's charm held tight in her hand. "How the hell did this even get in my bag?! I just hope Zim's not mad at me." she said to herself in between pants as she got to the building.

She skidded to halt in front of the classroom door and composed herself. She didn't want to make a scene. She calmly opened it and looked at Zim's desk to see no one there. 'Well, I AM kinda early. I can wait until he gets here.' Alice thought, walking to her desk.

Dib turned to her as she sat down and smiled at her. "So, you finally decided to be on time, huh?"

Alice nodded, returning the smile. "So do you think we can't meet up today for the project?" she asked, messing around with a strand of her hair.

"Yeah, sure. Why don't we go to your house this time!"

Alice instantly shook her head. "My house is a huge mess, since were still settling in and all. We don't have to go to your house but I'd prefer if we didn't go to mine."

Dib nodded in understanding and sighed. "Um...Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was wondering...since you're the only person that actually seemed to like being around me, even though the projects over next week could we still...hang out? As friends?" Dib asked, a pinkish tint forming on his cheeks.

Alice smiled. "Sure, Dib. You're a cool guy, so of course I wouldn't mind spending more time with you."

"Really?!" Dib asked, beaming.

Alice snickered under her breath. "What? You thought I'd say no?"

"Well...maybe a little…" Dib muttered, embarrassed.

Alice giggled and glanced over and Zim's seat again. 'He's still not here and class starts in-' Alice jumped at the sound of the tardy bell. 'Right now, I guess.'

Alice had her mind on Zim all morning. She constantly glanced over at his seat or out the window to see if he was just running in. When the lunch bell rang she decided that he wasn't coming and worked out a plan.

"So Dib, about meeting up today, where did you decide we were going?" she asked, sitting down with the boy. "Oh, well I was going to do some more paranormal research done tonight up at Mystic Hill. I figured we could go there I could everything done in one night." Dib explained.

Alice nodded. "Okay, there's just something I really need to take care of right after Skool so I was just wondering where to go." she said.

"Really? What?"

"I just have to return something to someone. It won't take long. I'll meet you up there as soon as I can."

"Wait, do you even know where to go?" Dib asked.

"It's that big hill near the edge of the city, right?" Alice asked, pointing out the window to a hill-shaped silhouette in the distance. "You can see it from here."

Dib turned around and shrugged. "Huh, I didn't know it was that noticeable."

…

Alice was getting unbelievably impatient with how slow the day was going. If she didn't get out of here soon she thought she was going to explode! Her tension finally released as the final bell rang through her ears.

She jumped up, with a quick wave to Dib, and dashed out the door and into the crowded hallways. She shoved kids aside and was one of the first out the door. After quickly straightening out her clothes she began her jog to Zim's house.

After about 15 minutes and thinking she didn't know where she was a few times. She finally had the cul de sac that contained Zim's little green house in her sights. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked up to the house, wiping the sweat off the back of her neck.

She went up to the house which just looked tacky in the sunlight and rang the doorbell while rolling her eyes at the men's sign on the door. After a few seconds she crossed her arms and began tapping her foot impatiently. Her eyes started wandering to all of the odd little lawn ornaments and she kept constantly peeking in the window to see no one there.

Eventually the door opened a crack, too small for her to see who was inside. "Uh...Zim?" she asked. After a few seconds something grabbed her arm and pulled her into the house.

She landed face first on the floor and something jumped onto her back and wrapped itself around her neck. She struggled until she heard a familiar electronic giggle. She looked up to see the little green puppy sitting on her head and looking down at her with a crazy smile on its face.

"You gonna make me explode again lady?" it asked with a giggle.

How the hell was this thing even alive to ask that?!

"Uh...no. Sorry about that though. I just came to see Zim." Alice explained, now getting used to talking to it.

"Oooohhhhhhhh. Ur Mastah's girlfriend!" it cheered, jumping up and down which, to Alice, hurt like hell. "WHAT?!" she was able to wheeze out.

"Mastah told me all about you! You're so pretty!" it squealed, squishing her face.

"Well thank you but could you get off me!" Alice yelled, bucking him off like bull.

She quickly got to her feet before it could jump her again and looked back at the little dog-like creature who was squirming on its back like a turtle. She rolled her eyes and brushed off her dress. "Crazy thing." she muttered.

"Human?"

Alice jumped and turned around to see Zim standing right behind her. "Zim, you've gotta stop sneaking up on me." she sighed.

Zim chuckled and went over to Gir nudging him with his foot onto his stomach. "You'll have to excuse Gir. He's gets a tad hyper when we have guests." Zim explained.

"So he's your...dog?" Alice asked.

"Yes. My normal human dog." Zim nodded, almost proudly.

"...Okay...anyways, I came over to give this back to you." Alice said, handing the charm to him. "Somehow it got into my bag on Saturday and I was going to give it to you at Skool but you weren't there."

Zim smiled and took the charm, examining it in his hand. "Yes, I was feeling a bit ill this morning so I decided not to make things worse by going to the disease ridden Skool of FILTH!"

Alice flinched a little at his sudden outburst but then smiled. "Well I hope you're feeling better. I just came by to drop that off so I'll just get out of your hair so you can finish getting better." Alice said, turning towards the door.

"Wait! Zim is actually feeling quite fine and it looks like you're a bit weary from your walk over here. Why not relax for a bit." Zim coaxed leading her towards the couch.

"Thanks, Zim, but I really need to-"

"Zim insists!" Zim blurted.

Alice eyed him but allowed him to push her down onto the couch.

"At least allow Zim to fetch you a drink."

Alice sighed and reluctantly let herself relax. Zim went into the kitchen and came back with a strange soda-like drink Alice had never seen before.

"What is it?" she asked. "Just try it." Zim sighed shoving the drink into her hands. Alice took a small hesitant sip, the carbonation giving her a bit of a jolt at first but she soon let the taste sink in.

This was good! Not just good it was the best, sweetest drink she had ever had! She took another sip to verify the sweet taste and soon began chugging it down. "You like?" Zim asked with a cocky smirk. Alice nodded taking another long sip.

After about 5 minutes she finished the drink with a loud satisfying belch. Zim stared at her in shock of the loud noise she produced so suddenly. Alice blushed and giggled a little at his expression. "Heh, excuse me." she squeaked.

She then let out a long yawn and sunk a little more into the couch. "Getting tired, Alice-human?" Zim asked with a sly smile.

"I guess I didn't much sleep last nighhh…" Alice's eyes fluttered close and she fell into a laying down position on the couch, her head on Zim's lap.

Zim waved his hand in front of her face and grinned evilly after getting no response. He lifted her up enough for him to stand up and looked at the cutesy charm in his hand before tossing it carelessly onto the floor.

"Computer, dispose of this thing and prepare an elevator down to the lab." Zim scooped up Alice and carried her to a small end table that was being lifted off the ground to reveal an elevator shaft underneath the floor.

As a platform rose from the darkness Zim stepped onto it and watched a claw from the mess of wires and tubes on the ceiling drop down and pick up the little charm and crush it to nothing but dust and another tube vacuumed up the remains. Zim nodded in approval as the platform sunk into the depths of Zim's base again.

…

Zim typed in the controls as he watched Alice almost gracefully float in the tank next to him. He pressed another button and a tube snaked into the tank before quickly latching on the center of her back. She tensed at the small amount of pain but didn't wake up.

Several more followed latching onto her head, chest and hands. "As long as I know these things work this will be a grand success." Zim smirked to himself.

After a few more minutes he started getting readings of her pulse, health and brain activity. He continued to fiddle with the control panel before beginning a full body scan. The scanner passed her unconscious figure several times before data began flooding into Zim's computer. Zim smirked at the monitor and was just about to start praising himself when he saw something that...didn't seem right.

"Eh?" Zim looked over the data again to make sure he read it right. His computer had scanned her as two separate lifeforms. He looked back to Alice to make sure bug or something didn't get caught inside with her when he had shoved her in there when a dark fog like substance began forming from her chest.

It slowly swirled together and took a blurry but relatively solid human-ish shape right before his eyes. It seemed calm but it soon lunged out at Zim but hit the glass. Zim jumped and stared in fear and wonder as the creature glared at him with soulless red eyes. It growled making Zim shrink in fear and it soon retreated back into Alice's body.

Zim thought it was over but not a second later the tank burst from a shock wave, throwing glass and fluid everywhere. Zim jumped out of the way and saw Alice, still asleep on the bottom of the broken tank with the, now snapped off, tubes still attached to her.

Zim hesitantly crept up to her and poked her face. No response from her or the creature. Zim did it a few more times to be safe then checked her pulse. She was alive at least. He pulled the tubes out of her, hoping that the marks would heal before she noticed and picked Alice up, avoiding the glass shards on the ground as he made his way to the elevator.

"Computer, clean up this mess and analyze what that...thing was." Zim ordered with a small quiver in his voice from the jump scares he had just witnessed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you to 2Lazy2LogN for reviewing. You awesome! :3**

**Chapter 11: Starry Night**

"Alice-human! Wake up!"

Alice let out a tired groan as she felt something jab at her side. She opened her eyes and looked up at Zim, who was standing over her looking a bit agitated.

"What happened?" Alice asked, sitting up on the couch. "Zim has been trying to wake you for nearly 2 hours. You passed out shortly after sitting down." Zim explained.

"So I fell asleep? I guess that makes sense considering-WAIT! 2 HOURS?!" Alice gasped. Zim nodded, sounding bored. "Yes, you heard correctly."

Alice's eyes widened and she jumped off the couch in a panic. "Thanks so much Zim but I really gotta go! Bye!" Alice shouted, running out the door waving back to him as she got to the sidewalk.

"Anytime human." Zim smirked. He shut the door as Alice left and sighed ripping his disguise off.

"Whatever that thing was it has to be the source of her abilities. But capturing it will take more of my amazing brains to pull off." Zim muttered to himself, walking towards the toilet elevator shaft. "First thing's first. I plan my next attack on Alice herself. If I simply keep drugging her she may catch on so the only way to plan the best attack would be...GIR! Get over here!"

…

Alice tore down the street in a panic. "This is just great! How the hell did I fall asleep so easily anyway?! Dib's gonna be pissed!" she thought as her feet pounded on the sidewalk.

She stopped at a crosswalk to catch her breath and looked up at Mystic Hill. "How *pant* am I even *pant* going to get over there?"

She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and turned to see a city bus stopped at a light next to her. She could only stare at it for a second as several elders were making their way off the bus. "It'll be stupid. It'll probably kill me. But god dammit I need a faster way to get there!" Alice smiled.

She ran to the other side of the bus so no one would notice and concentrated, staring up at the top of the bus. She blinked and when she opened her eyes next she was laying on top of the bus. It roared to life and Alice gripped the front for her life, squeezing her eyes shut as the wind rushed past her and the vehicle bounced almost trying to buck her off.

It seemed to last forever but eventually the top of the hill was just a small hike away. She gulped and jumped off the bus just as it was turning away from the hill. She tumbled into the dirt and coughed painfully as the bus threw a cloud of dust and exhaust in her face. She brushed the dirt off her clothes and got to her feet and sighed, starting her walk up to the top of the hill.

…

Dib checked his watch again as the sun began to set and sighed resting his chin on his hands. "I guess she's not coming. Dammit Dib! You blew it!" Dib groaned tossing a rock off the side of the hill. "Why can I never have a real friend for five minutes without messing it up? Why did I even think a loser like me could even have a friend like her?" he muttered the last part sulking.

He felt so depressed and heart-broken he didn't hear someone coming up behind him. An arm wrapped around his head and covered his eyes and another wrapped around his neck. "H-hey?! What the-"

"Guess who?" a voice giggled. Dib gasped and ripped the arm off his eyes to see a long red fingerless glove.

"Alice!" Dib beamed, turning around and hugging her. "Well, someone's happy I'm here." Alice muttered, blushing at Dib's reaction. Dib finally realized what he was doing a quickly let go, his face completely red. "I-I...was just starting to think you weren't coming." he said.

Alice sighed and sat down next to the boy. "Sorry about that. I lost track of time and I...uh...fell asleep." Alice said, with a sheepish giggle. Dib raised an eyebrow but smiled.

"So...what again were you doing?" he asked. "Oh, I was returning something to Zim and-" "Wait, WHAT?!" Dib grabbed Alice's shoulders and started shaking her. "Are you nuts?! Zim is dangerous! Who knows what he could've done to you!" Dib screamed. "D-Dib, relax. I'm fine." Alice said, trying to shake off the dizziness Dib had given her.

"Okay, tell me everything that happened." Dib said, calming down.

"Nothing much, really. I went to his house, his dog tackled me, Zim offered me a drink and I was so tired that I passed out on the couch." Alice explained.

"And when you woke up?"

"He told me how long I had been out and I ran off. Nothing else."

"You didn't feel weird when you woke up?"

"No."

Dib let himself sigh in relief for the moment. He knew Zim was planning something but at least Alice was alright. "Okay, let's just...focus on our assignments for now and get off that topic." Dib said, pulling out his notebook.

…

"And that's all the times I've saved the world. Mostly from Zim." Dib said, proudly.

Alice nodded and wrote down the last of her notes. "Well I think that's all I'll need for my essay. You need anything else?" She asked.

Dib shook his head and put his stuff away.

"It's really nice out here. I always liked just looking up at the stars." Alice muttered, lying down on the grass with her arms behind her head.

"Yeah, this place is so far above the city that can see past the pollution." Dib smiled. "I mainly came up here because I intercepted a weird signal." Dib explained, pointing at his laptop.

"You mean like aliens or something?" Alice asked, sitting up and scooting over next to Dib.

"Probably, I know of a few different alien signals but I haven't been able to decode this one yet. It was too jumbled and choppy when I first got it. I figured coming here would give me a better vantage point and maybe a clearer message if it sent another one." he shrugged, adjusting the tiny satellite dish attached to his laptop. "But it doesn't look like I'm getting anything tonight." he sighed.

"What time is it exactly?" Alice asked, rubbing her eyes.

"8:30. You getting tired?"

Alice nodded and stood up. "I better go. I'll see you at Skool tomorrow, Dib." Alice said, waving to the boy as she turned to make her way down the hill. Dib watched her go as he began to pick his stuff up.

Just as he was closing his laptop he heard a small beeping noise come from the speakers. He quickly ripped it open again and saw he had intercepted another message. It was still fuzzy and hard to make out but he could at least hear the voice a little clearer. It sounded female and was in a weird tongue. Or at least it would be weird for any normal person but Dib recognized the language almost instantly and it made his blood run cold.

It was an irken.

**AN: Short chapter bluh! I'm too tired for this crap! DX**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Thank you GhostWriterShadow and Mistyblackheart for following and favoriting! :3**

**Chapter 12: The (other) New Girl**

One week later Alice walked into Skool (late again because she almost lost her essays) and slammed her papers on Ms. Bitters desk as she passed it on her way to her seat.

"Well someone's confident." Dib smirked as Alice sat down. "I'm just happy to have it done. I hate these long projects." she muttered. Dib chuckled and went back to the paranormal guide he was reading.

As class continued he stayed in his little world flipping through the pages of the book. He eventually came across a particular section in the book. Soul Shadow. The little attention he had on Miss Bitters's lesson was completely destroyed as he whipped out his notepad. There had to be something useful here. He took a second to glance back at Alice who was sleeping as usual then began to read.

"The demonic entity known as The Soul Shadow is believed to be an extra-dimensional being that came to our world for some sort of selfish purpose. It is known to coax its host into allowing it to take the person's body. The person still has control at this state but they will slowly become more and more corrupted as time passed slowly losing their sanity and eventually their free will. Not much is known about how exactly this being obtains a host but what is known is that it normally takes the minds of gullible and/or weak willed children."

Dib shuttered at the thought and continued to read the disturbing details, taking notes every few minutes. "Hey, whatcha doing?" Dib jumped and frantically slammed his book and notepad closed before Alice could see. "Time for lunch spazzy." Alice giggled tugging on Dib's sleeve.

Dib blushed and followed her out of the classroom. Dib recovered from Alice almost seeing his notes on her fairly quickly and about halfway to the lunchroom they were back to their normal friendly chatter. So much so that Alice got a bit too distracted and bumped into the person in front of her.

"Sorry." she quickly said before she even saw who it was. It was a girl slightly taller than her wearing a black hoodie, black gloves, black combat boots, electric blue pants, and a dark grey collar with blue spikes. The hood covered her face. She didn't say anything and was gone before Alice could ask her name.

"Weird…" Dib muttered to himself. "Huh? You say something?" Alice asked. "I just thought she looked a little strange. I've never seen her around here either." Dib explained. "She's probably just a new kid in one of the other classes." Alice said, continuing her walk to the lunchroom. Dib shrugged and followed.

…

The girl growled to herself as she kicked a broken pencil across the hallway. This place was disgusting! She was just hoping for luck to be in her favor today. She wasn't just going to be dragging into this place by a smelly blue clad pig and not try to find who she was looking for.

She walked through the main doors to the cafeteria while avoiding as much physical contact with these disgusting...things as possible! She stepped into the lunch line to keep from looking out of place, copying the human in front of her exactly.

As she stepped out the line with her tray of mush she saw a group of kids waving to the boy who had been in front of her. Not knowing where to go she scanned the room for some place to sit. She didn't want to be swarmed with humans but also didn't want to seem out of place. She noticed a table in the back with just three humans at it, perfect.

As Dib and Alice talked while opening their sack lunches the girl slipped in quietly without either of them noticing. She poked at the...whatever it was on her tray and noticed the humans around her eating the stuff. She grabbed a spork off her tray and picked up a small piece. "I wouldn't if I were you." she turned her head to see Alice facing her with a small sandwich in hand.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked. "That stuff is toxic. I don't know what made everyone else so stupid to eat it but I could've sworn I almost died after one bite." Alice said, gagging at the memory. The girl quickly dropped the spork into the mush and it soon started to eat the spork soon leaving no trace of it. Alice shuttered and took a bite of her sandwich.

"So are you new here?" Dib asked. The girl nodded. "I was dragged here this morning and shoved into the 10th grade class."

"Yeah, I got the same treatment." Alice laughed. "So what's your name?"

"Techno. I just moved here from...some...other place." Techno introduced. "Cool name. I'm Alice and this is Dib." Alice introduced, Dib giving a small friendly wave. Techno returned the awkward wave and rested her elbows on the table. Dib glanced slightly suspicious of her before looking back down at his food.

…

Ruby yawned rolling over onto her back, letting her tummy catch the sunlight flooding in through the window. She both loved and hated this time of day. Everything seemed to stand still when Alice was off at Skool.

She sighed and rolled back over onto her paws and stood up, arching her back to stretch out the tight muscles. As she hopped up onto the kitchen counter to get some food she heard a loud crash from the living room.

She hopped down and dashed down the hallway to where the noise had come from to see Gir laying on the carpeted floor with a large hole in window. "Gir? What are doing here?" she asked. "And why didn't you use the door?"

"KITTY! You here too?" Gir beamed, running up to hug her.

"Uh...my name is Ruby and could you tell me why you're here?" Ruby asked again, squirming out of Gir's death hug.

"Mastah told me to talk to his girlfriend for him. He's embarrassed." Gir giggled.

"Well I think you got the wrong address because-wait, are you with...Zim?"

Gir nodded. "Yup! Zim's mah master!"

Ruby smirked. "So Zim likes Alice?" Gir nodded again.

"Ha! I knew it! I knew Alice wasn't telling me everything!" Ruby giggled. "So what did you need to tell Alice? I can tell her when she gets back."

"Mastah said he wants to see her in the park tonight!" he giggled.

"Awesome! I'll be sure to let her know." Ruby smirked. "Thanks for coming by Gir."

Gir giggled again and made his way to the door. "Oh! And Gir? If Zim's okay with it feel free to stop by again. I enjoy your company." Ruby smiled. Gir smiled back before blasting though the wooden door, leaving a hole at the bottom of it. Ruby just rolled her eyes and walked back over to the patch of sunlight on the floor to continue her nap.

…...

Techno hopped off the front steps of the Skool building as other kids ran past her letting out their obnoxious cries of joy. As she slipped into her thoughts she was violently shoved out of the way. "Move it stink-beast!" Zim growled as he plowed through the herd of children.

Techno glared at the one who had treated her with such disrespect but then could only stare in shock. She was dumbfounded to see no one even paying mind to the obvious irken making his way to the sidewalk.

She quickly got to her feet and followed him swiftly passing the other kids completely oblivious to the pursuit in progress. As she closed in on him however someone got in her way.

"Hey! Uh...Techno right? Can I talk you?" Dib asked blocking her path and her view of Zim.

Techno growled and attempted to shove him out of them way but the boy was very persistent and stood his ground. "So where did you live before coming here?" Techno shot past him, knocking down every kid that was even slightly in her way.

"Hey!" Dib called. Techno ignored him and ran past the crowd to the sidewalk but Zim was already gone. Dib tried to catch up but she was down the street and out of sight in less than a minute. Dib sighed and shoved his notepad back in his pocket. "She seems suspicious. I'll have to get some more information out of her." he muttered.

"Maybe you could try a more...subtle approach?" Dib turned around and saw Alice walking up to him. "No, she seems too smart for that. I'll find some way though. I didn't become a paranormal investigator for nothing."

"Why are you interrogating her anyway?" Alice asked, shifting her weight from side to side.

"She just seems out of place. Not like Zim but ever since I got that transmission I've had my guard up."

Alice sighed, a bit annoyed. "Don't you think your sort of jumping to conclusions? New kids come in all the time. Why is she so different?"

Dib groaned. "You just don't get it!" he snapped. "I bet you never believed me either did you."

"I never said I didn't but you don't have any supporting evidence that she's out of the ordinary." Alice said looking a little hurt as she turned around and began walking away. "I'm going home. You need some time to get your facts straight."

Dib was going to say something but stayed silent and watched her go. He slapped his forehead with his palm as soon as she was out of sight. "Ugh! Idiot! You always do this!" Dib grumbled as he began walking the opposite direction towards home.

…

Alice walked in the door to see Ruby cooking a grilled cheese sandwich on the stove. "Good to see you're back!" she greeted sweetly.

Alice sighed. "Okay, what's all this? You're up to something!"

Ruby turned to her looking hurt. "Oh Alice, why do you always assume that? I'm just trying to cook you nice meal."

Alice rolled her eyes. "You only do this sort of thing if you're going to try and push me into something." she glared.

"Oh, by the way, Gir stopped by to see you today." Alice eyed her as she flipped the cooked sandwich onto a plate, nudging it towards her with her nose. "He told me that a certain someone wants to meet with you tonight." Ruby continued in a sing-song voice.

Alice glanced up at Ruby as she bit into the sandwich. "So that's what this is all about." she muttered.

"Come on Alice! He's straight up asking you out!" Ruby begged.

Alice thought about it, blushing at the idea of Zim's asking her on a date. "Well...I never said I...wouldn't want to meet up with him. H-he is my friend." she muttered.

Ruby squealed and hopped into Alice's lap. "Daww my sis is growing up!" she beamed, nuzzling Alice's face. "Just stay calm and be yourself. He said he'd meet you in the park tonight." she jumped back down to the floor and dashed to their room cheering. Alice sighed and lay back in her chair, rubbing her temples.

"This better not be awkward." she muttered.

…

Techno growled as she sat down in the grass, staring up at the trees around her that may look hideous but at least they gave her cover.

"That stupid little child! I thought this would just be a minor setback but now because of him I could risk getting killed because of that little-!"

"Mistress?"

Techno stopped ranting and looked over to a small S.I.R Unit standing beside her. It was white with metallic grey arms, claws, legs, and tail that was tipped with a white spade, it also had red-violet eyes and its antenna were arranged so they looked like horns. "I've been scanning the surrounding area since you left. I was unable to find any sufficient tools."

Techno growled. "That's fine Sparks. There's another irken on this planet. We'll have our supplies soon enough."

…

Alice yawned, kicking her feet back and forth as she sat on the park bench where they always seemed to meet. She had been waiting for Zim for a while now. Was he even going to show up? Alice sighed and lay down on the bench. She was getting extremely drowsy. Her head was starting to spin. What was going...on..?

Zim hesitantly emerged from the cover of the trees with a gas mask over his face. "Shut it off Gir. It worked." he said into a small communicator. The barely audible hissing sound next to him shut off and Zim stepped up to the unconscious Alice, scooping her up and grinning evilly.

"Now let's figure out what that is inside you."

**AN: Techno is not mine! Please don't kill me for using her buddy. :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Sorry for the crappy, short chapter but I couldn't think of much else to put in here. I won't keep you guys waiting on the next chapter, I promise you. Just sorta needed to wrap up this part of the story. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Be patient.**

**Chapter 13: Proposition**

Zim watched as the black smoke shot out of Alice's body and charged at the glass yet again, smirking in delight as the creature hit the tube with a 'clunk' but didn't even crack it.

"This new isolation tank you are in is made with one of the most durable substances in the galaxy. I don't expect you to break it like last time very quickly. You'll be lucky to land a scratch on it." Zim cackled, triumphantly as the black figure growled hatefully at the irken. It didn't deserve to be mocked by such a weak mortal.

Zim beamed as he walked over to the control panel next to the tube. As he pressed at the various buttons and switches Alice began to stir, the gas from earlier wearing off. Zim hurriedly typed in the last of the commands and just as she began drift back into consciousness there was a quiet humming noise, like a generator powering up.

A tired groan escaped Alice's lips from under the breathing mask over her nose and mouth but soon turned into a horrifying scream as the tube burst with a blinding light. The burning pain rushed through her entire body. It felt being struck by lightning. The pain became too intense for her to stay conscious and she went limp in the tank again.

Zim loosened the grip he had on his antenna, as the ringing in his head died down. It wasn't the most painless way to scan her and the creature living inside her but it was the most effective for internal things.

Zim grinned like a child on Christmas as he eagerly waited for the data to load onto the large monitor. "Alright let's see exactly what you a-" he stopped his evil monologue and took a closer look at the screen. "This can't be right. Computer! Scan the equipment for any bugs or glitches." Zim barked at the ceiling. The base computer let out a frustrated sigh and a minute later it spoke up. "No viruses detected. Scanner and other equipment are completely functional."

Zim's antenna perked and he began to ponder with his hand resting on his chin. "Hmmmm...perhaps this will be easier than Zim thought." he muttered, glancing back at Alice again.

…

Alice rolled over in her bed with a weary groan, she felt so sore.

"Morning, Juliet." Ruby cooed, jumping up on her and kneading her paws into her leg.

"What?" Alice groaned, cracking her eyes open. She was back at home, in her bed more specifically. Looking in a nearby mirror she saw she had horrible bed head and she was still in her clothes. "Ruby, what happened last night? My memory's a little fuzzy." Alice asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Well I can't say for sure but I passed out around midnight and when I woke up at 3 you were in bed. But judging by how you looked and how late you got back you must've had a whole lot of fun with Zim last night." Ruby said with a devilish smirk.

"What?! Ruby! I know I can't remember much but we definitely didn't do anything like THAT!" Alice protested a slight blush forming on her cheeks at the idea of her and Zim...Gah! She got it out of her head as quickly as possible.

Ruby sighed as her ears fell flat against her head. "Well did you at least kiss?" she asked, sounding more sad than curious. Alice sighed, irritated. "No. Well at least I don't think so."

"Man! I swear if you don't hook up with one those guys soon I'm gonna lose it!" Alice rubbed her temples. "We've only known each other for a few weeks! Give it some time Ruby." Ruby's face instantly brightened.

"So you will at least try?"

"I can't say for sure but if one of them ends up liking me like that I'll just see what happens." Alice shrugged.

"That's the spirit Alice!"

…

At school Zim sat on a bench in the far corner of the playground, scribbling away on a strange alien tablet. He could finally start drawing up blueprints for his latest evil plan. He was certainly proud of himself for this one.

"Hey!"

Zim was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Techno standing over him, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently. "What do you want human! Zim is very busy at the moment." Zim announced, saying human with a large amount of disgust.

Techno rolled her eyes and sat down next to the disgruntled irken. "Listen Zim, we've never met but that doesn't mean I don't know about you. You're exiled-uh stationed on this planet as an invader, right?" she said in a low voice.

"What are you talking about human? Zim is a perfectly normal Earth boy." Zim said, with a nervous, unconvincing chuckle. Techno rubbed her temples in annoyance. "Don't play dumb with me shorty. I need a favor from you." Zim raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Why should Zim help you?" he growled. "I'm just an elite soldier who crashed here and needs some help repairing her ship. Give me some tools and I'll put in a good word to the Tallests when I get back as a reward." she said with a wink.

"What? No!" Zim spat. He wasn't going to just give her his things! The Tallests already knew he was great anyways.

Techno looked at him confused. "No? I just need some Irk-damn tools! Why is that so hard?" Techno said, raising her voice.

"No one takes ZIM'S tools! How does Zim know you aren't after his mission! Huh?" Zim shouted.

The Skool bell rang, interrupting their argument. Techno growled and stormed off. She wasn't about to be told off by a defect. "You okay Techno?" She glanced over at Alice walking next to her. "It's Zim. I don't know how anyone can stand that egocentric midget." she muttered.

"Yeah, he can be a little full of himself but he's just a little quirky. He'll warm up to you eventually." Alice smiled, running ahead of Techno to catch up to Dib, who was calling over to her.

Techno watched her run off while snickering at the idea of Zim having a soft side. Regardless she was getting those tools. Whether he let her or not.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: It's a Sickening Thing Really**

Dib tapped his fingers on his desk at home as he read over his yearly Zim report. He'd started writing small recaps of the year when he realized Zim was going to be here awhile.

He had been normal as far as evil plans and diabolicalness for most the year but when Alice showed up he seemed a bit more introverted than usual. He didn't announce his plans as loudly or as often as he normally did. Than when it started getting into December he didn't come to Skool more than three times a week. That meant he was working something huge.

He was especially worried this time because Alice had been taking more days off as well. He had, of course, badgered her with questions whenever she was at Skool. She never denied taking time off but she said she never spent it with Zim. That didn't keep him from being on edge.

It was January 10th now and he hadn't seen her since Winter break started back on December 20th. He crossed his fingers that she'd be there today with no alien devices attached to her head as he shut down his computer and grabbed his coat and backpack.

He stepped out the door to see Gaz already a block ahead of him and he scrambled to catch up, his boots getting soaked in the puddles of melted snow. It had once again been a very warm winter. It only snowed a few times and only once did it actually stick. And now the new year had barely started and everything was already warming up.

Dib eventually caught up with Gaz and as they reached the Skool Alice came around the corner, huddled up in a green hoodie jacket. Dib smiled and ran off to greet her, Alice quickly noticing and waving to him. Dib pulled her into a hug as he reached her and Alice blushed. "It's nice to see you too, Dib." she muttered as Dib crushed her. He let go and blushed as they walked up to the skool together.

"Why haven't you been at skool the last week? You had me worried." Dib asked, as he waited for Alice to get her things from her locker. "Just didn't feel like getting up. Too cold for my taste." Alice said, slamming her locker closed.

Yes, it's true. Alice had refused to get out of bed more or less for the entire break and several days after. Ruby was the only one who could've whined at her to go but being a cat, she understood the warm feeling of just laying around and staying curled up in a pile of soft blankets. So of course she had allowed it. It didn't help that Alice only had her old green coat, no other winter clothing to wear.

The two walked side by side to the classroom, Dib personally happy to be in her company again. Alice sat down at her desk, and pulled Dib, who had been walking at a slightly slower pace, down into his seat as the bell rang. The kid's chattering died down as Ms. Bitters formed from the shadows behind her desk.

…

Alice impatiently tapped her pencil on her notebook as she stared up at the clock. She wasn't sure how many more times she could hear the word 'doom' today. "So after humanity is ripped apart by the mutated squid-tigers the few remaining survivors will-" An old-timey, black phone that seemed to appear from nowhere began ringing on Ms. Bitters' desk, interrupting her mind scarring lesson.

She picked up the phone and listened to whoever was squealing on the other line. "You'll pay for this." Ms. Bitters growled in rage before slamming the phone down on the receiver. The phone fell down into a fiery death pit inside of her desk and was never seen again.

"Class, despite my moral outraged, not only is the skool board allowing you to celebrate Valentine's Day AGAIN this year but they are organizing a little skool dance as well." Ms. Bitter's growled. The students suddenly burst into cheers as the good news processed through their brains.

They were jumping around the class and bringing out their Valentine's meat slabs. How long have those been in there? "Valentine's dance?" Dib mutter to himself. He turned around and looked at Alice who only looked a bit confused. "I don't think I've ever seen kids this worked up for Valentine's Day." she said with a small giggle. Dib smiled, a hint of blush on his cheeks.

Zim growled at all the happy children. He HATED this filthy holiday! It only reminded him of that slimy little Tak. He growled again at the memories. "The dance will be on Valentine's Day and you will be REQUIRED to bring a date." Ms. Bitters growled before the lunch bell rang and the students fled the room. …

"So what is this whole "skool dance" thing?" Techno asked, using air-quotes.

"I'm not too sure. I've never been to one." Alice said as the strange mush was flopped onto her tray by the lunch lady. Techno eyed the goop on her tray and quickly stepped out of the lunch line, forgetting the "food" entirely.

Over the last few months, with nothing much to do other than try and steal some tools from Zim's base Techno found herself socializing more with Alice, even becoming friends with her. Sadly though, Dib hadn't been as welcoming.

…...

"Dib, why are you so against her?" Alice asked, breaking Dib's concentration on glaring at Techno as she was playing tether-ball with a few other kids.

She punched the ball hard making it smack one kid in the face and tie the other two down to the pole as the string wrapped around them. She smirked victoriously and began to walk away leaving the two kids stuck up there.

"She's evil Alice! We can't trust her." he protested. "You're being so insensitive! You don't know she's an alien and even if she was that doesn't mean she's evil."

"You wouldn't understand." Dib muttered, going back to his glaring. Alice sighed, frustrated, and began briskly walking away. Dib heard her footsteps and turned around "Wait, Alice! Where are you going?" he called, standing up and running up to her. "I'm going to the bathroom, Dib. I'll be right back." Alice said, not turning to look at him as she left. Dib frowned and debated going after her in his head.

"Female troubles, Dib-human?" Dib jumped and turned around to see Techno right in his face. "I think that nickname Zim gave you is starting to grow on me." she snickered to himself. Dib glared at her. "I know you're up to something Techno! Don't underestimate me. I'll be the one to stop you." he said, his scowl slowly turning to a proud smirk.

"Geez, you two are alike. You'd make a cute couple." Techno muttered, examining her nails. "Wait, what?" Dib tilted his head. "You and Zim." Dib felt his lunch surge up to his throat. "Eww! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Techno laughed as Dib ran off to puke out the thoughts she had planted into his mind.

As he stumbled towards the bathroom he noticed Alice just down the hallway, resting up against the wall. He frowned and walked towards her, completely forgetting about his illness. "Hey." he muttered, awkwardly standing next to her. "Sorry about what happened back there. It's just...it's complicated." Alice turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Well...there was another alien who came to Earth a few years ago and I sorta...liked her." Dib blushed a little. "But she ended up almost hollowing out the Earth's core and now I can't trust anyone who comes into this skool! I may not know if Techno is evil but...I can't take chances." Dib explained.

"Do you trust me?" Alice asked, quietly.

"What?"

"You said you can't trust anyone at this skool. Do you trust me?" Dib looked into her eyes. He knew they were the eyes of a demon but for whatever reason all he saw was an angel. "Of course I trust you." Dib said, taking her hand with a reassuring smile.

They heard the outside bell faintly ring as students began pouring in through the doors. "In that case I accept your apology!" Alice beamed, giving Dib a small hug before dragging him off to class with a bright smile on her face.

…

Ever since that little bicker Dib had become a bit more inviting to Techno, now even letting her sit at their table, but they still kept their quiet hatred for each other. Techno hating him for his nosey attitude and the fact that he could actually end up a bit of a threat and Dib...well...he was basically just being a huge racist.

"So, Dibbers, you know anything about this dance?" Techno asked as the girls sat down at the table. "Will you cut it out with the nicknames?!" Dib said, slightly embarrassed. "And they've never done a dance at this skool before but it's basically just a social event where people dance and talk and eat snacks-" Techno's eyes widened slightly at that word. "-but I've never been to anything like that." Dib said, rubbing the back of his head.

"So are you going?" Alice asked. Dib froze. "Well no...not really. Ms. Bitters said we would need a date to get in so...y-yeah." Dib muttered. "Well you've got a few weeks. Maybe you'll find someone." Techno smirked. "Personally I don't see much of a point of going. Even if they do have snacks. What about you Alice?"

Alice sighed. "I'll have to use all my energy to keep Ruby from finding about this so even if I planned on going I'd be too spent to get up much less make it to the dance." she explained, resting her chin on the table. "Why would you need to hide it from your sister?" Dib asked. Alice blushed. "She's just really wanted me to find a...boyfriend lately." she muttered.

"Oh…" Dib nodded. "Well I don't think you much to worry about. How is she even going to find out anyway? She doesn't go to this skool." What Dib didn't know is that a certain feline was listening in from the window right at that moment. "Skool dance, eh?" she smirked to herself while maliciously rubbing her paws together.

…

Zim slammed the door shut and growled as he stomped across the living room, ranting to himself. "Stupid Earth love holiday! No doubt I'll have to suffer through it. What did Zim do to deserve getting assigned to this stupid filthy-wait…" Zim said, stopping in his tracks. He torn off his disguise and dashed into the elevator in the kitchen, resting his hand on his chin as he sunk into his base.

"The Alice-creature is now my friend but she still doesn't fully trust Zim. I'll need her full trust in order to pull this plan off. Computer! Pull up any research you have on gaining human trust!" he barked as he stepped out of the elevator.

"Search complete. Human's give trust to others by establishing a strong bond with that individual." the computer announce while a screen showed to stick figure humans. One gave a bright red heart to the other and the figure returned the gesture by hugging the other.

"And this bond can be created by this "romance" humans are always talking about?" Zim asked.

"Correct. Humans trust the ones closest to them psychologically."

"And how long until the preparations for Project Demon Takeover are completed?"

"Two months exactly."

An evil grin slowly spread across Zim's face as his hands quickly went to the keyboard in front of him. "After this filthy skool dance Earth will practically be in my grasp. Soon the humans will learn not to mess with me!

ZIM!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Evil in the Air**

Slowly but surely the skool soon became anxious for the Valentine's Day dance. Many were frantically attempting to find dates and if anyone was sulking in class they immediately assumed that they got dumped. It was pure, romantic, anarchy.

Alice stretched as she stepped outside onto the playground one day as she sat down at one of the benches by where Techno was completely destroying the other kids a dodgeball. Literally, of course. She kicked her legs back and forth, her heels just barely scraping the blacktop as she waited for Dib, who had gone to the bathroom right after lunch.

She wondered why he would be in there. Only the very dumbest kids didn't know that it was completely unsanitary, especially the boys bathroom, and Dib was far from an idiot. It was very odd for him. Now that she thought about he had been acting a bit strange lately. He seemed a bit more...stuttery that usual.

As she wandered her own thoughts a shadow overcast her and crossed its arms over its chest until Alice looked up. Zim was standing there, staring at her, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Oh, hey Zim. What's going on?" Alice asked as Zim sat down next to her on the bench.

…

"Okay...Alice. I've been meaning to ask you this for a little while but...well at that point we hadn't known each other for very long and that would've just been awkward but anyways, I just wanted to tell you that...I think you're a really cool girl and I've never met anyone like you, although I haven't met a lot of people because no one really...talks to me… Okay! Okay! Enough stalling I just think you're amazing and just want to know if you would...go to the dance with me."

Dib opened his eyes from squeezing them shut in embarrassment and gathered himself again with a sigh. "I really hope I can do this…" he muttered, looking at himself in the mirror before letting his head fall onto the rim of the sink. "There's no way I can do this." he sighed.

He tried his best to build up his confidence before straightening his coat, smoothing out his hair, adjusting his glasses and exiting the empty, neglected bathroom. He stepped outside and began to walk over to where Alice had agreed to meet him. This was as much confidence he was going to get.

As he walked across the blacktop he noticed Zim sitting next to Alice! Dib growled at him and ducked behind a bush to spy on them.

"I came to ask you something, Alice-human." Zim said, adjusting himself on the bench. "Really? What is it?" Alice asked with a smile.

"I was simply curious that since a second person is required to attend this "dance" thing Zim is asking if you would accompany me to the Valentine's dance." Zim said with a cocky grin.

Alice blushed as Zim took her hand, waiting for her answer. "Z-Zim...you're...asking me out?" Alice muttered, trying to process what he was asking.

Suddenly a dodge ball flew in out of nowhere, smacking Zim in the face a knocking him off the bench.

"Not sorry, Almighty Smallest!" Techno called from across the playground.

Alice jumped off the bench and knelt down to help Zim up. He groaned and rubbed his head as Alice pulled him into a hug. "Eh?"

"Yes Zim, I'll go to the dance with you." she smiled, blushing. As Alice let him go Zim beamed with pride and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

Dib dropped his jaw as his legs weakened and he fell on down onto the pavement. He had no idea how to process this. On one hand he wanted to go up and interrogate Zim, keeping Alice safe but on the other hand he just wanted to curl up and cry. He may have lost his only chance with Alice to a horrifying space monster!

He looked back to where they had been but they had left. "Alright, that's it! I'm not going to let Alice get taken by my worst enemy! I'll have to get into the dance! But how..?" Dib muttered, placing his hand on his chin. A dodgeball crashed into the back of his head and went flying into the dirt.

"Still not sorry!"

…

Alice quickly slipped out of class the second the bell rang, not even saying goodbye to Dib before she dashed out of Skool. She sighed as she rounded the corner and caught her breath.

"Hey, Alice!"

Alice jumped and saw Dib catching up to her. "Oh, hey…" Alice muttered. Dib frowned a little as he began to follow her home.

"Are you feeling alright, Alice? You haven't said a word since lunch." Dib asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't have much to talk about today." Alice said, not taking her eyes off the sidewalk. "Where were you at recess by the way? I wasn't at the bench the whole time but I never saw you once."

Dib sighed, realizing how awkward this was going to sound. "I...uh...saw you and Zim talking and...figured you forgot about me." he muttered the last part but Alice still heard. "Why would I forget my best friend? Zim had just...well...asked me out to the dance on Friday and had to treat a bruise on his head at the nurse's after he asked. We talked about our plans there." Alice explained, blushing with embarrassment.

"You sure it's a good idea to go with him?" Dib asked softly. Alice was stunned at his calm question. Zim was his arch enemy. She thought he'd blow up more when she told him.

"Dib, I know you've known Zim longer and you're convinced that there's no good in him but I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me." Alice said, resting her hand on Dib's shoulder with a warm smile on her face. "It's just that you're the first best friend I've ever had. I don't want you do get caught up in our fight." Alice's smile grew a little as they reached her house.

"Thanks Dib. I'll see you later." Alice said, giving Dib a hug before running around the house and inside through the backdoor. She dropped her things on the kitchen table and peeked out the window as Dib sighed, letting the blush on his cheeks fade before turning around and heading home.

Alice heard a rustling noise behind her and saw ruby dragging a plastic bag down the hallway. "What are doing Ruby?" she asked.

Ruby stared at Alice before slowly dropping the bag from her teeth. "Oh...uh...nothing… Anything interesting happen at school?"

Alice blushed. "Uh...no...not at all. Just a normal day for me."

"Alright then."

"Then I'll see you later." Alice awkwardly waved as Ruby continued to drag her mystery bag away.

"The hell's wrong with that cat?" Alice muttered.

…

Ruby coughed at the taste of plastic in her mouth as she dropped the bag on the basement floor. She sighed in relief.

"That was close one." she muttered.

She hopped up onto a dusty table in the corner of the dark and cobweb littered room. On top of it was an old sewing machine along with another bag that Ruby had brought down there last week.

"Alice won't know what hit her when I'm done with this. Neither will the boys." she snickered as she got back to her work.

…

Techno wiped the sweat from her forehead as she clung to the ceiling of Zim's base. She eyed the small case of tools on his workbench then the irken himself who had his back facing her. He seemed to be tinkering with a strange device that was attached to a small ferret, which was quivering in fear on the table in front of him.

Zim was suddenly distracted by a large crash going from the house level. He growled. "Gir! What did you do?!" he shouted, stomping towards the elevator.

As soon as he was out of sight Techno smirked and dropped down, her Pak legs keeping her attached to the ceiling. She reached towards the toolbox almost an inch away from her goal...then the ferret bit her.

"Gah!" she hissed, holding her now bleeding finger as the ferret growled at her. Techno snarled back and was ready to teach the little fur ball a lesson but sadly someone came back in to interrupt her vengeance.

"What the-? Computer! Intruder alert!" Zim barked. Techno didn't hesitate as she grabbed what she could from the box as claws dropped down from the wire covered ceiling. Techno dodged the first few claws but as she tried to escape she was pulled back and she saw that one of the claws had grabbed one of her Pak legs. She was limply suspended in the air as Zim ripped the tools from her hand as a tube dropped down above the female irken, sucking her up and shooting her out of the house.

She landed in a patch of bushes across the street, the branches scratching her face as she rubbed her sore behind and pushed in the center spike on her choker which activated her disguise. She heard weary groan from underneath her and Techno saw she had landed on a certain large-headed individual. She glared at Dib and stood up.

"Thanks for breaking my fall with your spine kid." she said insincerely. Dib only groaned in response, his face still planted in the dirt. Techno stretched a little and began to leave when Dib sat up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down into the bush. Techno ripped his hand off her wrist and pushed it back, making Dib wince in pain.

"What?" she growled.

"I need your help Techno. You're the only one I can go to." Dib squeaked. Techno's eyes widened and she let him go. Her expression turn to suspicious glare and she stood up again.

"Whatever it is I'm not interested. Why don't you just ask Alice or Zim or...someone besides me." she muttered.

"Wait! I can do something for you in return!"

"What could I possibly want from you?"

Dib stuttered, trying to think of something. Techno rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

"I can get into Zim's base!" he blurted.

Hearing this, Techno stopped in her tracks and turned back to the boy. "What?"

"I've seen you trying to get something from Zim for the last couple months. I've been in and out of his base plenty of times. If you help me I'll get you anything you want!"

Techno reluctantly sighed and walked back over to Dib. She hated the fact that she couldn't do something this dork could apparently with ease but she did need those tools.

"Alright, Melon-head. I'm listening." she muttered. Dib shot her a small glare and cleared his throat.

"I need you to be my date to the Valentine's dance." Dib felt Techno's fist collide with his gut and he fell back into the dirt.

"What on Irk is your problem?!" she yelled, grabbing the collar of his shirt and growling at him like a feral animal.

"H-hold on! It's not what you think! I just need to get into the dance to help Alice! You're the only girl I could somewhat explain this to other than my sister!" Dib screamed, covering his face with his hands.

He anticipated another hard punch but it never came. He nervously cracked his eye open as Techno glared at him and threw into the dirt.

"Friday, 7 pm, your house. If I have to wait for your stupid ass for more than a minute the deal's off." she muttered before storming off down the street, not giving Dib a chance to respond.

**AN: Sorry if this ends up being my last chapter for a while. I want to start focusing on just one story rather than the switching back and forth I've been doing. To make up for it I'll be sure to give something good next time. ;P**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Thanks to Dragonfire Stories and Invader Zora for favoriting and reviewing and thank you to Invader Techno for the critique of the story. Very nice for your first one. :)**

**Chapter 16: Dance of Doom**

Alice walked home alone on Friday afternoon. Her mind was racing with questions since the beginning of the week. Everyone had suddenly started acting so strange. Dib had stopped talking to her, Techno seemed a lot more irritable and Zim...well he's always strange. Even Ruby had been acting weird.

Alice groaned at her sudden headache and rubbed her temples as she continued her walk home. As odd as a she knew going to the dance with Zim would be she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Alice stumbled inside and groaned as she fell face first onto her bed.

A few hours later Ruby jumped up on Alice's back and pawed at her face.

"Alice come on! We gotta get you ready!" she whined. Alice groaned and rolled over knocking her off the bed.

"C'mon! I made you a dress and everything!"

"You made me a dress?" Alice glared at her.

Ruby put on the begging face. "Please at least try it on. I worked so hard on it!" She lightly pawed at the side of the bed and whimpered as her eyes grew large and her ears fell against her head.

Alice sighed. "You really want me to do this don't you?"

"Yes." Ruby squeaked.

"Fine."

Ruby beamed and took the edge of Alice's glove in her teeth. "You're gonna love this." she said attempting to drag her to her feet.

"Okay I'll try on what you got for me but don't be surprised if I just decide to go in this." Alice said motioning to her clothes.

"What does that mean?" Ruby said, looking a bit hurt.

"It's nothing against you Ruby but I know you've been trying to shove me into a relationship. I'd rather save myself the embarrassment." Alice sighed. "Plus I'm just not sure if going to this dance is a good idea."

"It'll be fine Alice. You need to get out there and and have a good time. Maybe even figure out which guy's right for you." Ruby said as she jumped up on a stack of boxes and dug through the closet.

"Ruby if I said it once I've said it a million times I'm not someone who goes chasing after boys."

"Yet someone asked you out and you accepted." Ruby muttered.

"THAT'S DIFFERENT!" Alice yelled blushing. "He's just a friend!"

"Found it!" she smiled, ignoring Alice.

Ruby grabbed a hanger from the rack and jumped down from the boxes. Alice took it from her and sighed. "Really Ruby? You've gotta be joking."

"You promised you'd at least try it on. Maybe it looks different on you."

Alice sighed in defeat. "I'll be right back."

"Oh! I made you some little accessories too." Ruby said holding up a purple belt and silver gloves. Alice nodded and took them along with the dress.

She came back out in a short black strapless dress with stripes of pink and silver sequins around it. It was much tighter than her normal dress and seemed to make her small curves stick out more. She blushed as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"So…" Ruby beamed. "You were right Ruby. It does look different on me. I thought it would be longer!" Alice growled. "You'll get used to it during the night. You look really nice." Ruby smiled. "I look like a slut! How am I supposed to let my friends see me in this stupid-HEY!" Alice yelped as Ruby climbed up her back and fully zipped up the dress where it was only halfway up before.

"RUBY! Now I can't get it off!" Alice growled, attempting to grab the zipper.

Ruby pushed her down into a chair and grabbed a hair tie off a nearby table. "Ruby what are you doing?!" Alice demanded.

"You might not like it now but we need to give you the right hair to go with it. Put your head down." Ruby explained pushing down Alice's head.

"This is ridiculous." Alice muttered.

Ruby threw her hair over her face and with some help from Alice, pulled it into a high ponytail. "Okay, I think it's good. Go check it out!" Ruby said, bouncing around.

Alice sighed deciding to humor her for a little bit longer. "Alright." she said standing up and walking back into her room where the large wall sized mirror was. Alice examined her hair from every angle and, though she liked it, it didn't change the fact that there was no way she was wearing this dress in front of Zim, or anyone for that matter. "Sorry Ruby but I can't do this. I think I'll just skip the dance all together." she sighed, as she started to pull the gloves off.

Just Alice was about to go change back there was a knock at the door. "Alice-human! Zim is here to escort you to the dance!"

She froze with a knot forming in her stomach.

"Zim huh?" Ruby said with a sly smile crossing her face.

"Ruby! Don't you dare!" Alice hissed.

"HUMAN!"

"ALICE IS RIGHT HERE! COME ON IN!" Ruby called.

Zim opened the door and stepped inside wearing his normal outfit. It didn't look like he bothered trying to dress up for this other than slightly slicking back his hair.

Alice looked up at Zim as her face flushed completely red. "Uh...h-hey Zim. Sorry I took so long."

Zim nodded and grabbed Alice's hand, pulling her towards the door. Alice turned to Ruby and growled at her as Ruby waved her paw at her with a smug smile on her face.

"I'll get you for this." She hissed.

…..

Ding-Dong!

"Dib!" Gaz yelled from the living room.

Dib stuck his head out the window to see Techno waiting by the door, impatiently tapping her foot with her arms crossed. Dib checked himself over in the mirror once more and smoothed out his scythe hair before running downstairs. "I'll be back later, Gaz! Don't wait up for me!" he called as he rushed to the door.

Gaz rolled her eyes; she knew he didn't really have a date.

"Hey, Tech. Thanks for doing this for me." he smiled.

Techno was standing there wearing a long blue dress with black and hot pink paint splatters on it. The short black hair of her disguise was tied back and she had even put a very small amount of makeup on her pale, freckle covered face. She growled at Dib and socked him in the gut, making him double over with a groan. "Come on, you wimp." she said, dragging him out the door.

After a slightly awkward 15 minute walk the Skool came into view as the kids who came without a date were kicked out by security and sent home in tears.

They walked up the steps as Techno reluctantly grabbed Dib's arm to make seem a bit more realistic. "You two together?" the hall monitor, now dance security guard, asked.

"Yep! We're together." Dib said, grinning like an idiot and holding her closer, making it very hard to keep her from killing him. The hall monitor raised an eyebrow but shrugged and let them pass. "You can do better than him, y'know." he whispered to Techno as they walked inside. Dib frowned at the comment and kept walking. Techno roughly let go of his arm as the doors closed behind them and shoved him into the lockers for good measure.

The hallways were, for the most part, dark and quiet except for the faded pounding of the music coming from the gym. They opened the double doors and Techno almost instantly backed up from the loud music. "Are you okay?" Dib asked. "Let's just say my hearing is a bit more sensitive than you humans." she said, walking past him and into the neon lit room.

"Now remember, we never spoke, this means nothing, I was never here and you still have your part of the deal to hold up." she said seriously as she looked around at the tacky decorations and if anyone was looking at them.

"R-right." Dib muttered, a bit spaced out as he searched for Alice.

"Well if we are on the same level then I'll just go. Goodbye, Dib and I mean it when I say I'm deleting his memory from my Pak when I get home." she growled, walking right back out the doors.

"Uh huh." Dib muttered, barely even paying attention to what she was saying.

He sighed, not noticing her leave a he walked over to the snack table. He grabbed a stale heart-shaped cookie and a cup, filling it with the strange pink-ish punch sitting in a large glass bowl on the table.

He leaned against the wall, watching more and more couples walked in through the door. He didn't see Alice anywhere. He finished his snack and went back over to the table, hoping there would be at least some better snacks farther down the table. He grabbed another cup of punch and looked up to see another couple walk in.

The girl was wearing a disgustingly short, tight black dress and the guy was ZIM?! Wait...then that girl was..!

Dib spit out his drink and dropped to the floor in a coughing fit. He stood up and hoped that he was just seeing things but there she was. Standing right next to Zim in a dress that barely covered more than a bathing suit...was Alice. Dib felt his face turning red as he stared at her uncontrollably.

The way her hair was pulled up and away from her face showing more of her face, especially the pink hue on her cheeks that seemed to make her even more radiant. Dib's eyes drifted down as he noticed the way her dress hugged her curves-. Dib quickly slapped himself and pulled his eyes away from her. Did that really come to his mind? "Alice is your best friend you moron!" Dib hissed to himself.

Sadly he hadn't been the only one staring at her. As he looked around Dib saw almost every other guy in the room was gawking at her He couldn't help but growl at them. At least he was trying to be respectful of her. He was failing but at least it was something. He watched as Alice sat down with Zim at a table on the far side of the room, shifting uncomfortably every couple of minutes as they made awkward small talk. He wasn't going to take his eyes off that filthy little space monster all night. He was going to keep Alice safe.

…...

Over the course of the night Alice became much more comfortable with Zim. She remembered why she had agreed to go with him in the first place. She liked him. He was always fun and interesting to be around and they were friends after all.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you've never eaten chocolate?" Alice asked.

"No...Is that bad?" Zim raised an 'eyebrow'.

Alice laughed. "People go crazy for that stuff. I'm surprised you've never eaten it. I'll bring some to Skool for you to try next week."

Zim nodded and crossed his legs, smirking at all the terrible dancers out in the center of the room. His antenna twitched under his wig as the music switched to a slow song and a grin slowly made its way onto his face.

"Care to dance?" Zim asked smoothly, standing up and holding his hand out to Alice. Alice blushed and hesitated.

"I-I...don't really know how to dance." she muttered.

Zim sighed and grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of her chair, leading her to the center of the room. "Follow Zim's lead." he smirked, placing his hands on her waist. Alice blushed and set her hands on his shoulders as he guided her across the floor to the tune of the song. Alice stumbled at first but soon found her dancing gracefully in Zim's arms.

As the song ended the two of them stopped, Zim gazing into Alice's ruby red irises and her staring back into his lavender ones. Alice wanted to let go of his shoulders, go back to their table, say that it was really fun to dance with him but she could barely move and...was Zim getting closer?

Before she knew it Zim pressed his lips to hers and wrapped her up tight in his arms.

Alice's face exploded with heat as she tried her best to process what was happening. Her stomach was doing cartwheels, her mind was getting fuzzy and her body was frozen in place. Before she knew what she was doing she closed her eyes and shyly kissed back. She felt Zim smirk as she gave into the embrace. This was all going exactly like he planned.

He cracked an eye open to see it was going even better than he imagined as he saw a certain big-headed child staring at them.

And he looked utterly destroyed.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: If the chapter title isn t enough of a hint this chapter is gonna be gory. Thanks to Usrthea and Theredraven for the follows, favorites and reviews!**

**Chapter 17: Blood on the Dancefloor**

Dib could only stare in shock as Zim and Alice kissed. He wanted to shove that disgusting alien off of her but he was completely paralyzed as his heart slowly cracked and shattered. So he was forced to watch them.

But then he noticed something. There was something going on with Zim's Pak. Was he going to knock her out with a new invention of his? No, not even Zim is that dumb to do that sort of thing where there's tons of witnesses. The he saw it, a spark came from his Pak, making Zim's body tense and his eyes snapped open as Alice slowly pulled away.

She shyly looked into Zim's eyes as he stared blankly back at her, neither of them able to say a word. As Zim had kissed her he felt this strange energy running through him. He didn't know if it was normal during this human ritual or if it had something to do with Alice's abilities but it felt...incredible. So incredible to him in fact, that his Pak had nearly exploded trying to process this strange feeling.

Zim kept his eyes locked on Alice as he slowly let go, feeling an uncomfortable amount of heat on his face. Alice's face was nearly as red as her eyes as she found she was still tightly clutching Zim's shoulders. Zim took her hands and slowly placed them back down at her side before speaking.

"I um...Z-Zim must use the restroom." he stuttered.

"Yeah...me too." Alice muttered.

The two of them stood in the awkward silence before they both turned around and went out separate gym doors. Alice went out the East door while Zim bolted for the West door.

…...

Zim looked in the mirror and examined his Pak the best he could in the reflection. That jolt felt so strange. He was slightly worried that it may have malfunctioned. Well if it did luckily it hadn't been catastrophic enough to kill him. It had been about six minutes since it happened and he would be slowly deteriorating at this point before dying four minutes later if his Pak had taken serious damage.

Zim shuddered at another jolt of electricity as his tongue brushed against his lips, still feeling Alice's presence there.

" I can' t stay here with my Pak in such disarray. I' ll find the Alice-human and tell her so she doesn 't lose trust in me." Zim muttered to himself with a sigh as he exited the bathroom, beginning his trek to the other side of the skool where Alice was.

...…

Alice waited for the water to fill the sink before dunking her head in it. She knew she'd probably get a leech or something but at the moment she was way too flustered to think straight. She thought her and Zim were just friends and then he just smacked her in the face with her first kiss.

No matter how many times she threw her head into the ice cold water she couldn't get rid of that small tingling residue of Zim s lips. She sighed and sat down in one of the stalls. She felt a little dizzy. She contemplated just curling up in a ball and hiding until everyone left but considering what's happened in this school so far she didn't want to see what happened when everyone was gone.

As she sat there trying to decide what to do a group of girls walked into the bathroom, gossiping as usual.

"Oh my god. I did not need to see those freaks sucking face tonight!" whined a bleach blonde girl.

"I know, right? I almost threw up!" added a brunette.

"How did they even get in here? I didn't think that Zim guy could ever get a date." asked a black haired girl.

"Well the girl he brought is a total slut! He s probably paying her or something."

Alice internally growled more with every sentence that left their mouths.

"Still even if I was a stupid bitch getting paid a million bucks I wouldn't go anywhere near that weirdo."

"Y'know he's got that freaky skin disease."

"Serves that whore right for being so desperate."

The girls continued to chat and re-apply their makeup until the door to the stall behind them burst open, tearing off it's hinges and slamming into the mirrors, The girls screamed as glass rained down on the floor and Alice stepped out, her entire eyes glowing a bright, rage-filled red. The group of girls coward in fear as Alice grabbed the blonde girl by her neck and lifted her into the air.

"Wh-what the hell is going on?!" the girl cried, making her makeup begin to run.

Alice tightened her grip on the girl's neck before throwing her into the nearby wall. The girl curled up in the corner, trembling in fear as Alice stood over her. Alice lifted her hand and a dark aura surrounded it before a mess of dusty wires covered in the same aura broke through the ceiling. Chunks of the ceiling fell onto both of them as the wires wrapped tightly around the girl's arms and legs, leaving her suspended in the air.

Alice floated in the air so she met her at eye level before raising her hand and clawing into her throat. The girl screamed and choked on blood before dying a minute later after Alice dug out her vocal cords and threaded her spine through the hole.

The other two girls watched in horror as the brunette girl got up slowly on her shaking legs and made a mad dash for the door. Alice saw her out of the corner of her eye and she telepathically grabbed her by her hair.

The girl screamed and thrashed around before being shoved roughly into the sink. Alice held the girl down, keeping a firm grip on her wrists before twisting them as far they could. The girl cried out as a painful snap rang through the bathroom and Alice dropped her broken and useless arms to her sides.

The girl was sobbing and shaking in fear and pain as she was lifted up by Alice's powers. Alice slammed her into the filthy tile floor before lifting her again and impaling the back of her head on the faucet of the sink.

Then there was the last girl, the black-haired girl who had been too scared to move this entire time as she watched as her friends were mutilated and killed. But at least their pain hadn't been too extreme before their death. At least compared to her's they were.

She was a witness. She was the one who watched their deaths in morbid detail and the girl that had caused them. And she not only insulted her, but her friend as well.

Alice grabbed the girl's arm and flung her into the wall. The cinder block cracked around her figure as the girl groaned in pain and fell to the ground, blood seeping from her head and trailing down her face. Alice knelt down beside her, glancing between the girl and her nails.

Before the black-haired girl could bring herself to move Alice grabbed her throat and stared into her eyes. The girl obediently stared back into the hollow red spheres as the hand gripped her neck tighter.

Alice traced her finger around her chin and face, before hanging it just above her left eye. Then before the girl could blink she screamed in agony as Alice s finger drove straight into her eye. She could feel flesh and blood getting under her nail as she swirled her finger around until her eye was nothing more than a liquid filled socket.

As the girl squirmed and cried Alice put her other pointer finger to the girl's lips before dangling it over her other eye. The girl squeezed it shut and tried to wriggle away from the demon girl's grasp but it was hopeless.

Alice pried her eye open and didn't hesitate to pierce her other eye. She did the same to the right eye before pulling out her fingers and roughly grabbing the girls neck. As she was choked Alice stood up and held her down firmly with her foot and with one hard pull the girl's head was ripped off.

The screaming stopped and all was quiet again.

Alice threw the girl's head into the nearest toilet with a splash as she listened to the sound of the blood running into the drain in the center of the floor. She stepped forward, her legs suddenly incredibly shaky. She stumbled out of the restroom and down the hallway. A trail of bloody footprints following behind her.

…...

Dib was sitting alone in one of the dark dead-end hallways of the school, trying to think of a way to get Alice back to his side. That kiss practically sealed it. She'd go along with anything he said at this point. He sighed and set his head onto his knees. The poor girl.

He sat there for another few minutes until he heard light groaning from farther down the hallway. Dib looked up just a figure crossed the hallway looked tired and dazed, almost zombie like. Dib quietly stood up and followed the figure as it walked out of sight. He peeked his head around the corner, gasping at the fading trail of red footprints. Dib followed the trail with his eyes to the stumbling figure and his eyes widened as he stepped out into the main hallway.

"Alice?! Is that you?" Dib squeaked a little at the sight of her blood-drenched figure.

Alice heard Dib's squeaky and slightly panicked voice and stopped in her tracks before bolting down the hallway.

"Alice wait!" Dib called, running after her. Alice ran as fast as she could, keeping her eyes focused on the large exit doors at the end of the hallway. She burst out the doors without another thought. Dib opened the doors himself but could only see fog and rain covering the world outside. Alice was nowhere to be seen.

Dib was about to go out to find her when another figure caught his eye. It was Zim. Dib growled and ran up behind Zim, grabbing the back of his collar and slamming him in a strip of lockers. Zim hissed in pain and Dib grabbed his throat, glaring daggers into his eyes. Zim glared back and struggled in Dib's grip.

"What did you do to her Zim?!" Dib demanded.

Zim looked generally confused but soon went back to glaring. "I don't have time to be interrogated Dib! I have my own issues at the moment." he growled as he began to storm off.

Dib threw Zim to the ground before picking him back up. "I may not be sure what exactly you did but you were the only one with Alice all night." he hissed. "If she was bleeding that badly from what you did try to imagine it being even worse for you if you ever hurt her again." Dib roughly threw Zim to the ground before running out the double doors to find Alice, leaving Zim sore and extremely confused.

…...

Ruby lifted her head up as she heard the door open and she stretched a little as she jumped off Alice's bed and walked into the living room. Alice was on her knees, soaking wet and trembling. Something told her that the night hadn't exactly gone how she had imagined it.

Ruby cautiously walked up to Alice and set her paw on her back. Alice looked up at Ruby with tears in her eyes, most of the bloodstains either not being visible or had washed out in the rain.

"Oh Alice, I m sorry." Ruby said quietly as Alice crawled onto her feet and stumbled to the bathroom.

"I-it's not your fault, Ruby." Alice forced out. "I just...need to lay down, I don't feel good."

Ruby helped Alice with the zipper on the dress and undid her hair as Alice changed into a pair of dry pajamas and fell onto her bed with a groan, the horrifying screams from those girls echoing in her brain. She found herself quivering and sobbing as Ruby sat beside her.

"You wanna talk about it?" Ruby muttered, expecting a "no".

"I killed..." Alice squeaked, keeping her face buried in the pillows. Ruby's breath caught in her throat and Alice began crying harder.

Ruby got over her initial shock and curled up next to Alice and gently pet her head as she got everything out of her system, still keeping the kiss a secret from Ruby of course.

Eventually Alice fell asleep from exhaustion with tear stains on her pillow and the small yet unmistakable scent of spilled blood clinging to her skin.

…...

The doorbell rang the next day and Zim growled in annoyance as Gir began cheering about the pizza man. The little robot opened the door and took the large pizza box happily, unaware of the tiny piece of paper that had flown inside with him. Zim eyed the piece of paper and picked it up, reading it to himself.

'Zim, I'm sorry I left so suddenly last night. I didn't mean to ditch you but something came up. I'm still confused about...well everything to be honest. What I really want to know is...why me? It' not like I'm anything special. Meet me at the coffee shop on Maplewood ST. later today. We need to talk.

Alice.'


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Back to Business**

Zim stuffed his hands into his pockets as he glared up at the Starshmucks coffee shop. He hated the smell of coffee, particularly theirs since everyone at skool drank it in the morning, making them even more revolting.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside, attempting not to gag as he scanned around for Alice. He spotted her at a table in the back corner of the place. She was wearing her dark green jacket and sipping at a warm drink. Zim sighed and walked up to the table, Alice looking up at him when he sat down.

"Hey." she greeted with a small smile.

Zim nodded with a small "Hmm" before a sweet smell washed over him. Definitely an improvement over the smell of coffee beans.

Alice noticed Zim enjoying the smell of her drink and snickered. "Do you want some?" she asked nudging the cup towards him. "It's hot chocolate."

Zim snapped himself out of his trance and shook his head. He wasn't thirsty, despite the good smell.

"So why have you called Zim here of all places?" Zim asked.

Alice shrugged. "I just needed something to perk me up today. Last night I couldn't sleep very well." she said with yawn. "So I thought a warm drink might help." she took another sip, cautious to not burn her tongue on the still steaming drink. "I'm sorry I left last night. It wasn't about you, honest." She muttered, sounding extremely guilty.

"You don't have to continue to apologize human. I understand." Zim said with a small smile.

Alice blushed and smiled back. "I just don't want you to be upset with me. I don't handle losing friends very easily."

"Actually Zim was hoping we could be...a bit more than that." Zim said, taking Alice's hands in his own. Alice jumped a little, her face flushed pure red.

"You're the first human I enjoy being in the company of. Zim isn't entirely used to being in a relationship but I would want you to be with Zim."

"So you...actually wanted to kiss me last night?" Alice asked, her blush not even starting to dissipate.

Zim smirked and nodded. "So will you, Alice, except the honor of being Zim's love-pig?" Zim asked, standing up and gracefully offering her his hand. Alice giggled and took his hand and stood up, grabbing her cup as Zim pecked her pink cheek and led her out of the shop.

"Sure, I'll be your girlfriend." Alice smiled as Zim beamed with pride, keeping their hands intertwined as they walked.

"Thanks for walking with me back to my house Zim. You're really sweet." Alice smiled shyly pecking his cheek as they turned the corner, Alice's home only two houses away.

"I can make it the rest of the way on my own. See ya!" Alice waved with a smile. Zim waved back and crossed the street to go home himself. Alice walked inside and sat down on the couch next to sleeping Ruby. Alice smirked and laid down beside her with one last sip of her drink.

"A boyfriend...I like the sound of it."

…..

Dib yawned as he kicked his legs back and forth as he sat on the front steps of the skool. He had been trying to see how Alice was doing all weekend but he had never been able to get a hold of her. He sighed and waited until 5 minutes before class to go inside, hoping that she was just a little late.

As he went inside he gagged at gut wrenching smell coming from one of the nearby bathrooms. Which actually wasn't that surprising. What was surprising were the amount of kids gathered around the source of the smell, either puking, screaming or looking at it with a strange fascination.

Dib raised an eyebrow and held his breath as he pushed to the front of the crowd. His face paled as he looked inside at the mind scarring scene before the poor boy. The entire bathroom was drenched in red blood and black rotting chunks of flesh and three figures, girls from his class it seemed, were inside, covered in flies and maggots. One was hung by wires in the ceiling, one was impaled on the sink faucet and the other lay on the floor, her decapitated head floating in the toilet.

Dib jumped back in horror feeling bile rise in his throat. Luckily he was able to keep it down until he was able to get to a trashcan. He coughed and panted when he finally stopped vomiting and he sat down against the wall shivering. If those girls' bodies were already rotting then they had to have died sometime around...Friday..? The dance! But that could mean...the blood Alice was covered in… Dib's eyes widened in shock as this new information sunk in.

"No wonder she isn't at skool today! She killed those girls in cold blood!" Dib covered his mouth as he spoke aloud. 'How could I assume THAT?! She's my best friend! I can't just...accuse her of murder...' Dib held his spinning head and slowly got to his feet as the bell rang.

He stumbled into class, ignoring Ms. Bitters's glare at his tardiness. He cautiously looked over to Alice's seat, not seeing her there. He could hear people around him whispering about the mysterious murders. Every extra rumor that he overheard only seemed to point more and more that a demon had done it. No every day psychopath could've pulled that off. Alice…

By the time the bell rang for lunch he was drenched in a cold sweat. He felt shaky and a little nauseous again. He somehow was able to make it to his normal table, Gaz at his side and, after a few minutes, Techno on the other side of the table.

"Morning, Dork-human."

Dib would've shot her a quick glare if he wasn't preoccupied in his own head. Techno noticed he seemed paler and more out of it than usual and gave him a quick slap across his face. Dib snapped out of his trance and growled. "What the hell was that for?!"

"You were spacing out and you're no fun when you aren't screaming like a banshee." she replied casually.

Dib gave her a long, hard glare before she continued.

"Anyways, as much as it annoys me to speak to you I need to give you this." Techno took a slip of paper out of her sweatshirt pocket and pushed it towards him. "It's a list of tools I require from Zim. You still have your end of the deal to hold up."

Dib nodded. "Y-yeah, whatever Techno." he muttered.

Techno rolled her eyes at Dib's scattered mind today. He was so weird. Techno tapped her fingers on the table as an uncomfortable silence fell over the two of them. "So...is Alice not here today?"

Dib jumped a little at her question before shaking his head. Techno huffed at his answer, knowing he'd be the only person to talk to now. Great.

"I-I...I actually think I'm gonna go home sick. I don't feel good…" Dib quivered, standing up slowly.

Techno raised an eyebrow but didn't have any interest in stopping him. Dib stumbled out the doors to the playground before slipping through a hole in the fence and heading back home, he wasn't going to go through all the trouble of signing out and thinking up a good excuse.

He crashed onto his bed after he walked inside and he stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"It can't be Alice...she...she wouldn't do that…" I pulled his blankets over his body and sniffled. Wait...was he crying? Dib wiped his eyes with his sleeve, a small amount of dampness on it.

"I have to be sure. I need to know if Alice really killed those girls."

He stood up finally and opened his closet, pulling out a black backpack, containing a cloaking jacket, x-ray goggles, grappling hook and several spy cameras.

"She would never tell me if I asked so...I guess this is my last resort…"

…..

Dib shoved the hood of the cloaking jacket over his head and adjusted his headset, containing a camera in it before stepping out from behind the fence of Alice's neighbor's house. Under the cover of the cloudy night he activated the jacket and camera and with a gulp he walked into Alice's yard.

He finally saw the full extent of the disrepair her house was in. He had only seen it from the front on a few occasions when he walked her home from skool. He couldn't help but feel bad that she lived alone in a place like this with her young sister. From what he'd heard she was a bit of a handful.

Dib slipped in with barely a creak through the slightly ajar backdoor and crouched down, listening carefully to see if anyone noticed. Luckily it didn't seem like anyone had. He slowly walked through the house, stopping every few seconds to see if he was making any noise. He was very overly cautious when spying.

He carefully stepped over a cat that was asleep in the middle of the hallway and crawled into what he assumed was Alice's bedroom. He couldn't help but frown at how dirty and out of order everything seemed to be. He couldn't believe she actually lived here.

He heard someone yawn from the hallway as a shadow came closer to the room he was snooping around in. Dib quickly made his way to another slightly open door, leading to a small white and pink bathroom.

He peeked around the corner and saw that there were two doors to get in here, the one in the bedroom and another in the hallway, which for the moment was closed. Good, if someone came in through one he could slip out through the other.

He started to slink around the corner but stopped the second he heard something, sounded like humming. He slowly turned his head before covering his eyes and mouth and slipping back behind the corner.

Alice stretched and grabbed a towel resting on the counter near her as she stepped out of the tub, pulling out the drain plug with her foot as she stood up. Dib pressed his back against the wall, his entire face burning. He had almost seen her in the bath! Good thing her long hair had covered her unknowingly for the most part.

Dib waited until the heat on his cheeks dissipated before hesitantly peeking around the corner again. Alice was sitting on the counter, in her tank top and shorts thankfully, drying out her dark, dripping wet mop of hair with the hair dryer. Dib mentally sighed; it was already uncomfortable enough he was spying on her in her own house.

"Hey Alice!"

He jumped at the sudden voice coming from the other side of the other door; he could only assume it was her sister.

"What?" Alice called back, over the noise of the dryer.

"I was wondering if you were feeling good enough to go back to school tomorrow. You were super beat up earlier."

Alice smiled to herself as she unplugged the hair dryer. "Yeah, I mean...things like that happen. I have to live with the fact that I can't control when it kills."

Dib covered his mouth to keep from gasping. She just admit it! She really did kill them! He felt sick again. He decided it would be best to leave while it seemed like Alice and her sister were in the same place so he'd avoid running into them easier.

As he made his way through Alice's room he accidentally brushed his hand against the covers of her bed, making a thick book, which had been balancing on the edge of it, to fall off. Dib was able to catch it but not before one of the corners hit the ground. Alice heard the noise, knowing instantly her book had fallen over...again. She really had to find a better place for it.

She set her hairbrush down and walked into her room but she didn't see the book anywhere, certainly not where she put it. She saw Ruby tense in the hallway.

"Alice? Do you feel that?" She looked startled.

"Feel wha-?" Alice focused for just a second but she felt it. There was another life force in the house.

She regained her composure quickly and growled. "I know you're in here!" she shouted.

Dib froze. She could sense him?!

He turned around and saw Alice's eyes. They were solid red and she looked really pissed.

He abandoned the stealthy approach and made a break for it. A dark fireball grazed his cheek, making his camouflage flicker but since the hood was up she couldn't recognize him right away.

He burst out the door, running at full speed as Alice chased him. Dib prayed for his life as he turned the corner he ducked behind a group of trashcans as he heard Alice scream in frustration. It seemed like she lost him. Dib stayed huddled up by the garbage cans before standing up and pulling the hood of the cloaking jacket off and briskly walking home.

He collapsed on his bed and pulled off the jacket, the large book that had been hidden underneath it crashing to the ground. Dib hissed as the book hit his foot before picking it up and setting it on his desk. He had her spell book.

No turning back now...


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Suspicions Rise**

"Dib!"

Dib snapped awake at the sound of his sister on the other side of his bedroom door. He wiped the drool off his face and mentally gathered himself. He had been up all night reading through the different spells in Alice's book. He must've crashed while doing that and now it was time for skool.

Dib yawned and closed the book, storing with it his Soul Shadow files, as he stood up and stretched. He changed his clothes and smoothed out his hair as he went downstairs. Gaz was waiting for him, tapping her foot in impatience. Dib grabbed his bag and headed for the door. He didn't make it far as Gaz socked him in the gut for making her have to get him up. Dib fell onto the ground and crawled back up to his feet as he followed his pissed off sister.

Morning were never her best. Dib walked up to the skool and saw Alice in even worse shape than he was. Her hair was a mess, she had bags under her eyes and nearly ran into a lamp post as she turned the corner. Dib felt his stomach twist in guilt and walked inside, not wanting to risk her figuring out it was him that most likely made her lose sleep.

Alice yawned, she had been out all night looking for the bastard that stole her book, to no avail of course, and trying to think of what to do with Ruby. It was obvious they knew where she lived now. It was only a matter of time before they would ambush them.

She rubbed her eyes and stumbled into the skool building and bumped into a certain someone.

"Eh? Oh, hello Alice-human." Zim smiled patting her head.

Alice looked up at him and smiled back, feeling a little bit better running into him.

"Hey Zim, good morning."

Zim smirked and closed his locker door before draping an arm around Alice. Alice blushed and smiled, leaning into Zim's chest as they walked to class. Alice broke away from him at the door and walked to her seat with a small wave. She sat down, Dib too busy scribbling to notice the small exchange of affection.

Alice contemplated getting Dib's attention but he seemed lost in thought, plus after everything that's happened she wasn't really in a talking mood, at least with someone who would ramble on about theories and badger her with questions.

The skool day seemed to last forever, Alice, Dib, and Zim groaned in relief when the lunch bell finally rang. Dib stretched as he stood up, turning around to see Alice was already gone. He just saw her leaving the classroom without him and pushed past the other students to catch up with her.

When he finally pushed far enough that he could see her he stared in horror as he saw Alice walking with Zim, their fingers intertwined. Dib stopped and frowned as he watched them walking in-sync...before of course being trampled by dozens of hungry students. The image of them was lost in the pile of children as he was left on the dirty floor with a weak groan.

"Hey. You dead or something?" Techno said, nudging the boy with her foot. She sighed and stepped over him, jabbing her heel into his face. Dib winced as a few specks of dirt got in his eye and sat up.

The hallway was now completely empty, everyone already in the cafeteria to eat their disgusting filth. Dib rubbed the dirt out of his eyes and got back on his feet, finally making his way into the cafeteria. He decided to skip lunch due to the long line nearly out the door and went straight to the usual table.

"That hurt y'know…" Dib growled at Techno.

"You're such a wimp, Dib-human." Techno replied, rolling her eyes.

Dib huffed and looked beside him to see Alice not with them. He was about to ask Techno, who was playing with her nails when he saw Alice sitting down at the other end of the room. At Zim's table.

Dib couldn't help but growl as Zim wrapped his arm around Alice's waist as they made small talk.

Techno smirked at him. "Someone's jealous."

Dib snapped out of it and blushed. "Shut up, I am not! I'm just...a little worried is all."

"I know that Zim is a jerk and I may not fully understand human relationships but there's a point where even I can tell you're being possessive." Techno said, rolling her eyes.

"I said shut up!" Dib stuttered.

"Whatever, as long as you get me my tools I really don't care about your emotional issues."

"You don't have to keep hammering it in! I'll get them when I'm not busy with other things."

"Like stalking your girlfriend?"

Dib growled and stopped talking to her.

…..

After school got out and Dib glared at Zim for another minute for walking Alice home before turning and going home himself. He grumbled and kicked a rock aside as he came up the walkway, walking into the house followed by Gaz. He sighed as he laid down on his bed after carelessly tossing his backpack to the floor.

"I guess I could at least get Techno off my tail about these damn tools." Dib eventually muttered, getting up to pack his things. He didn't have all that much motivation to do anything paranormal related today but it wasn't going to get better if he kept getting annoying reminders about his end of the deal.

As he packed his supplies his computer beeped, signaling a message from the Swollen Eyeballs. Dib sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he knew what they wanted from him. He reluctantly accepted the call and the silhouette of Darkbooty came up on screen. "Mothman, we are getting impatient with you." he stated, his red eyes glaring at the boy.

"I know, I know, just...give me a bit more time okay?" Dib muttered, not at all in the mood to speak with the network.

"I don't think you grasp the urgency of this situation. If we do not capture it soon who knows how many innocent people will die. You are aware of the three girls that were mutilated in a skool bathroom correct?"

Dib shuttered, that horrifying image. But he knew Alice didn't do it. There has to be something else! She wouldn't kill of her own free will...would she?

"I...did make some progress." Dib finally spoke, holding up the book. "It's full of spells and dark rituals. It's almost like an instruction book for demons…"

Darkbooty seemed interested but his tone of voice was more threatening. "Do not let that book out of your sight. It could be crucial information and there's no doubt the shadow will come back for it. Stay on your guard." he warned.

Dib gulped and nodded.

"Have you identified the Shadow yet?" Darkbooty asked.

Dib tensed. Should he really tell him? "Uh, n-no...not yet...I didn't get a very good look when I found the book." Dib lied, sweating bullets.

Thankfully Darkbooty seemed to believe his story with an understanding nod. "Alright, get back to me with that information as soon as you can. It's crucial we find her."

Dib gulped and nodded as he ended the call. He sighed in relief and fell back in his chair, wiping the cold sweat from his neck.

Eventually he stood up and finished preparing his equipment. He left the room with a nervous glance to the book sitting under his desk. He prayed Alice would never find out but he knew in the back of his mind it was inevitable.

…..

Alice quietly hummed to herself as she looked around in the kitchen for something small to eat before going out. Zim had asked to stop by his house again tonight, he really seemed to be anticipating something.

Ruby hopped up on the kitchen table and beamed. "I knew you had a boyfriend!"

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright little miss stalker. I admit it. Zim and I are officially dating now. At least I think that's what were doing…"

Ruby giggled. "You are so clueless sometimes."

"Hey! It's not like I've ever had a boyfriend before. I guess I just never realized how much of a charmer he was." Alice blushed.

Ruby sighed dreamily. "I can just picture it. You two growing old together." she cooed.

Alice rolled her eyes and playfully shoved her. "You have some serious issues." Ruby snapped out of her daydream and pouted as Alice tore open a granola bar, taking a few bites as she slipped on her coat. "I'll be back later Ruby."

"Have fun Alice~" Ruby giggled.

Alice sighed and shut the door behind her. There was something seriously wrong with that cat.

The sun was low in the sky as Alice came up on the cul de sac Zim lived on, everything around her bathed in a fiery orange light. She lightly knocked on the door and it was answered almost immediately by Gir.

"Hai Ally!" he squeaked, hugging her leg.

Alice smiled and pat his head as she went inside, dragging the little green dog along with her. Zim was sitting on the couch and smirked at her as she came inside, the door shutting and locking behind her. Alice sat down on the couch with a smile, shaking Gir off her leg.

"Hey Zim…"

"Zim is happy you could come tonight Alice-human." Zim said, placing a light kiss on her cheek. Alice blushed and leaned on him a bit, resting her head on his shoulder. "Did you have plans for us tonight or something?" she smirked.

"Alice, we are love-pig friends aren't we?" Zim asked.

Alice nodded with a giggle.

"And you trust Zim's word, yes?"

"Yeah, I do…"

Zim smirked and stayed silent for a few seconds, chills started crawling up Alice's skin as the atmosphere slowly grew uncomfortable.

"Then it seems my plan has worked perfectly…" Zim muttered.

"Huh?!"

"Computer!"

Before Alice could get up or make a run for it a wire shot down from the ceiling, jamming itself into Alice neck. She yelped before her vision faded to black and she collapsed on the floor. Zim let out a quiet evil chuckle as he stood up, once again dragging Alice's body into the base.

"Oh what a foolish human. Good thing her human body is not of any use to me."

"Not anymore at least."

**AN: Sorry it's been so long but since the school year is almost over I've gotten more motivation to write. I'm hoping to be able to manage all three stories at a time again. Wish me luck guys! ;)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: What Did I Do Wrong?**

Dib sighed quietly as he rested on one of the large wires covering the ceiling of Zim's base. He had always been able to get inside with ease, now the hard part was going to be finding those tools. "I think I remember which floor had all his building equipment, but it's pretty far down, gotta be careful." he muttered to himself as he crawled across the ceiling.

Gir was in the room below him but the little robot was too entranced by whatever was on the tv to even begin to notice the boy crawling around on the ceiling and talking out loud to himself.

Dib was able to slip down the elevator shaft without any alarms going off and he began his slow crawl down, high powered suction cups on his hands and feet to keep himself planted on the wall. He passed several floors with no sign of the tools or Zim until he could finally hear his voice. It was faint but that was definitely a Zim laugh. What was he planning this time?

As the laughter grew louder Dib poked his head into the room. Zim stood proudly in front of a tube, behind him a massive army of robots. They towered over the tiny irken as continued to laugh maniacally. "Finally! It took months of work but it will all be worth it when I finally conquer this spinning ball of dirt!" he grinned evilly, holding up a small necklace. Wait...that was Alice's necklace!

Dib then turned his attention to the tube and stared in horror as Alice floated inside it, wires and tubes, warping around and latching onto her pale body. He had Alice captured?! Dib sighed, he should've known this would happen. Irken bastard.

Zim used his Pak legs to lift himself up to the robot at the front of the group, slipping inside it. "Now to see if this will really work." Zim smirked, tracing his finger over one of the buttons on the control panel. He pressed it and the robots sparked to life with a surge of dark energy. The gem in Zim's hand began to glow bright as he placed it into a slot in the control panel. As he did the other robots began to light up, coming to life right before Dib's horrified eyes.

As the robots began to move a scream erupted from Alice's tube as she was shot with a burst of agonizing pain. Dib's chest tightened in rage as he watched Alice go limp, sinking to the bottom of the tank. Dib couldn't just watch anymore. He had to save her.

Zim left the room, most likely to get something else to hurt Alice with, this was his chance. Forgetting about the tools entirely he leapt up into the room and rushed to Alice, frantically messing with the controls to hopefully get her out.

He was eventually able to get it to drain leaving Alice inside, weak and dripping with the strange fluid. She soon coughed and shakily got up on her hands and knees.

"Alice! Can you hear me?!" Dib squeaked, hoping not to get Zim's attention.

Alice looked up at Dib, her entire body burning and sore. "D-Dib? What's going on?"

"Don't worry Alice. I'll get you out of there as fast as I can just hang on." Dib said, going back to the controls.

"Get back." Alice said, putting her hand up against the glass.

"Huh?"

"Dib, I said get back!" Dib jumped out of the way as a burst of energy escaped Alice's hands, cracking the glass slightly. Alice concentrated, sweat dripping from her forehead as she exserted herself until the glass of the tube shattered. Dib stared, wide eyed as Alice panted, putting her shaking hands down to help support herself, she was about to collapse.

Dib snapped out of his trance and ran to her, gently helping her to her feet. Alice leaned on him, looking around the room. "Where...are we?"

Dib sighed. "Remember what I said about Zim being an alien? This is his base."

Alice's eyes widened in horror as she looked around, feeling extremely dizzy. Dib held onto her to keep her from falling as he heard footsteps approaching.

"Oh crap! He's coming!" Dib hissed.

"What?"

"There's no time to explain, just run!" Dib said, pulling Alice with him as he dashed behind a waist high control panel, crouching down and holding Alice close to him.

Zim came back into the room humming to himself until he noticed the broken tube.

He growled. "Damn monster. Oh well, I didn't have much use left for her anyway."

Alice stared in horror, tears gathering in her eyes. Dib noticed and hugged her tighter. 'I'm sorry.' he mouthed. Alice sniffled quietly and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.

Zim climbed up into the robot once again and grinned as it began to move at his control. "Now to test this out." Zim said with an evil smirk as he glanced over at the control panel Alice and Dib were unknowingly hiding behind. He grinned as dark energy built up in the cannon in the middle of the robot's chest. Alice bit her lip to keep from screaming in pain again as her power was drained even further. Dib peeked out from behind the console and his eyes widened in horror, jumping back seconds before the laser hit, utterly destroying the equipment. The blast knocked the two humans to the ground as Alice stared up at the robot, fear filling her eyes.

"Eh?! Dib! I should have known you would try and stop me! But you're too late." Zim laughed as he charged up another blast.

"Alice come on! We have to get out of here!" Dib yelled, tugging at Alice's arm. She wouldn't budge, her eyes locked up the horrifying sight.

While Dib was distracted a wire from the ceiling wrapped around his torso, yanking him away from the stunned girl. "ALICE!" He screamed.

"...Zim...why..?" Alice managed to squeak out before the cannon fired.

In a split second Alice held up her arm, a small dark shield appearing in front of her body, holding back the blast. But it wasn't enough. The blast knocked her back into the elevator shaft. Alice gripped the edge as she tried to pull herself back up, an endless abyss below her. She put all her strength into getting back up on her feet but she had been completely drained. she could hold on much longer. Alice looked up at Dib and choked back tears as her fingers slipped and she fell down the shaft.

Dib watched in horror as he his best friend plummeted into the base below before glaring in pure hatred at Zim, tears forming in his eyes. "ZIM YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, trying hopelessly to escape his bonds as Zim's computer tied up and gagged him before throwing him into the back of Zim's robot.

"Oh this is only the beginning Dib. With this immense amount of power you will watch your planet crumble before your very eyes. I have won Dib. The Earth is mine."

…..

Lexi's legs shook violently before giving out under her. She shivered and choked back tears as she stared at the blood covering her pale body. The deep red fluid dripped from the ceiling into gathering puddles on the floor as the little girl sat on the floor, feeling like if she were to move she'd only fall again.

Lexi twitched her leg against the splintering wood floor and hissed in pain. Clearly at least some of this blood was hers. She breathed heavily before moving her uninjured leg to try and stand up. She quickly rose to her feet and leaned against the wall, holding her head as a massive headache washed over her.

"Lexi? Lexi?!" she heard Ruby squeak from the hallway.

Lexi quickly limped out of the foul smelling room and slammed the door behind her, causing her to fall onto the hallway rug.

"Lexi!" Ruby scampered to the girl's side, lightly nuzzling her face. "Are you okay Lexi? What happened?"

Lexi slowly sat up and gently pet the small kitten's head. "I'm alright Ruby...but we need to go."

Ruby cocked her head. "Go? Go where?"

"We have to get out of here. It's not safe anymore." Lexi got to her feet again and made her way back to the other end of the hall, into the bathroom.

She sat in the tub and washed to blood off herself, the blood on her leg coming from nothing but a small cut which she quickly bandaged. She slipped on a new pair of clothes and found Ruby in their room, holding their bag and Rusty's toy mouse.

"Where's my mom and Rusty? I can't find them." she asked.

Lexi tensed, turning her gaze away from her small friend. "They're...waiting for us. They had to go right away and told me to go find them when we were ready…" Lexi said, a fake smile plastered on her face.

Ruby stared at her for a second before hopping off of the bed. "Okay! Let's go!" She smiled.

Lexi nodded. "I'll meet you outside Ruby." Ruby nodded and trotted out of the room.

Lexi walked back to the bloody room, the smell now stronger than before. She stared at the horrific scene and sighed. "I...don't know what I did wrong. I thought you were my best friend…"

Lexi quickly left the house with her feline companion as police sirens wailed in the distance.


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: I apologize for the long wait you guys. Summer block and all. I'm back to my updates and these stories aren't dying yet! Enjoy! :D**

**Chapter 21: Inner Rage**

Gir giggled as he stumbled into his secret room. It was a section deep in the base Zim mainly used for storage that doubled as a place the little robot could hide out in when Zim wanted some peace and quiet.

He skipped through the dusty hallways before coming up to his glorious rubber piggy pile just below the bottom of the elevator shaft. "Daww, looks like Ally's sleepin in the pile." Gir giggled, his steps squeaking as he walked on top of the pile of rubbery pork. Alice was face deep in the oddly smelling pigs as Gir jumped up on her back with a giggle as he began to play with the pigs on her head.

After over a half an hour of this Alice groaned and stirred, her body feeling sore and broken. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see two bright blue orbs staring back at her.

"Hi Ally!" Gir beamed.

Alice glared at the little robot and shoved him off. She sat up, feeling her vertebrae crack as she straightened her back. She sat on the bed of pig toys in silence, taking a minute to let everything sink in. Gir stared at her in adorable curiosity as she sat there, her eyes welling with tears.

"Ally?" he squeaked.

A dark aura surrounded her figure before looking to the small robot with solid blood red eyes. She let out a low growl as Gir backed away. She stood up shakily on her legs, leaning against the wall for support as the aura continued to flare and the shadows began wrapping around her pale figure.

Alice's nails sharpened making an ear piercing sound as they scraped across the metal wall. Her teeth sharpened as they grit together before the girl let out a high pitched shriek. The aura collected together at her back before materializing into a pair of torn and fragile looking black wings. Alice screamed even louder as the wings dug deep into her back, a small amount of blood spilling onto the floor. Alice knelt down on the floor and hacked up another pint of blood and panted before standing up, tearing off her hair-tie in the process with her claws, leaving her hair out of control.

Gir whimpered in fear and hid behind one of the control consoles as Alice stepped up to the elevator shaft, launching up the shaft, digging her claws into the metal walls and climbing up at a rapid pace. Her darkest animal instincts had taken the poor girl over.

And it had its sights on a certain cocky irken.

…...

Well this was it. The young boy's worst nightmare was coming true right before his eyes as the small but powerful army of robots marched down the cracking street, much to the shock and confusion of bystanders.

Dib tugged at his metal restrains keeping him attached to the wall of Zim's head robot. At this point Zim was just being cruel and cocky. He'd bring the Earth to a crumbling wreck with Dib watching before finishing him off with the rest. Or hell, maybe he'll let his suffering continue as a slave.

Normally Dib would be looking for a way out, knowing there had to be something Zim overlooked but what was the point now? Alice was dead. If he couldn't even save someone he cared for how was he supposed to keep the entire Earth safe? He knew he was way over his head with this. He had gotten a lucky break for several years but his luck had to run out eventually.

Dib tried to blink back the tears filling his eyes behind his glasses. The only way this day could get worse if Zim saw him crying like this. Lord knows he didn't need another ego boost. With all of his moping he hadn't even noticed Zim ranting and cackling about the fact that victory was at his fingertips.

"Are you listening to me Dib-filth?!"

Dib looked up and growled at the small irken standing smugly in front of him. "What if I'm not? Why would I want to listen to you, you damn space midget!"

A sharp sting hit Dib's cheek as Zim glared at him. "Do not dare call Zim short!"

Dib huffed and glared at the red, three-fingered hand print he could now see on his face from his reflection in the window. Zim stopped talking after that and went back the control panel in front of him.

He stared down at the humans below him staring up at the small lineup of robots crowding the street. Zim smirked smugly and trailed his fingers along the control panel before pressing one of the buttons. A gun at the base of the robot's body began to glow with a dim violet light. The people stared in confusion and awe as the light grew brighter and brighter until… An ear-splitting loud noise swept through the city as the light exploded from the gun, the laser sweeping across several houses on the left side of the street and reducing them to burning rubble before anyone could even blink.

Dib cringed at the screaming and explosions as Zim cackled evilly. Several shots were fired from the robots behind him before Dib realized where they were headed and his blood ran cold. They're going straight to his house. Gaz…

Tears trailed down his face as he began trying to desperately break the cuffs off the walls again as Zim wasn't even paying attention to his struggling. Dib gritted his teeth as the skin on his hands felt like they were about to rip off from attempting to squeeze his hand through the cuffs, only succeeding in getting them stuck halfway, leaving him in an uncomfortable and awkward position. His head sunk in defeat as his body went limp and quiet again.

Zim laughed to himself as the Membrane household came into view. Gaz growled at the noise outside that was breaking her concentration from her game and stormed outside, only to freeze in her tracks at the sight of the massive machines. Dib bit his lip and turned away. He couldn't bear to watch.

Just as Zim was ready to warm up the cannon yet again a warning went off on the dashboard. Zim growled at the blinking red light and reluctantly took his hands away from the controls for the weapons.

"What is it now? I haven't the time fo-" Dib raises an eyebrow at Zim's silence as he stared at the screen on the console.

"It...It can't be…"

Dib's ears picked up a booming noise that was getting progressively louder as the source rapidly caught up to them. The boy felt panic twist around in his chest as Zim was frozen in fear before snapping out of it and rushing back to the controls.

Completely abandoning his army and his plans to rid this world of Dib's demon sister he gunned it, tearing down the street to save his own hide. Dib pressed his cheek against the window, seeing the robot that had previously been standing tall behind the one he was in, fallen over with a two massive holes in the body, exposing all of its, now severed, internal wiring. The same went for all the others, leaving a trail of robot corpses in the street, the final one being this one.

Knowing what was coming, Dib braced himself as Zim foolishly turned the robot back around to see if the creature was shaken off. Zim jumped as the sound of claws scratching at metal made it to his antennae. The onboard computer pointed out that the beast was rapidly tearing through the left leg of the robot.

Zim yelped and growled as he attempted to shake off the monster but doing so only made the mech loose its footing. Zim was flung into Dib after losing his balance and the boys screamed as they hit the ground.

Dib was knocked out from the impact, a small trail of blood trailing down his face from under his hairline. Zim however was merely bruised. He scrambled back up to a standing position, his antennae on high alert for any sort of noise.

He rubbed his eyes as specks of dust flew into them before hearing banging on the windshield and cracking glass. Zim tensed and stepped forward to see Alice as she snarled at him and pierced through the glass with one last punch, sending shards all over the boys. Zim screamed and backed into a corner as Alice jumped in, landing softly on the ground with the help of her, now even more ragged from the rough use, black wings.

Zim panted heavily and look at her with pure terror in his magenta eyes. Hers stared back with nothing but pure rage before growling like and animal and lunging at him.

Zim deployed his Pak legs and leapt out of the way, frantically scrambling to get out through the broken windshield. Alice grabbed two of his metal, spider-like appendages and tore them out of his Pak, sending the irken crashing into the ground again, causing him to scream as he landed on his ankles and one of his arms, thoroughly breaking them.

Alice grabbed his crumpled body by the neck and brought him up to eye level, choking him and sinking her nails into his flesh. Zim struggled and coughed desperately trying to claw at her arm enough with his undamaged hand so she would loosen her grip.

Despite the deep gashes he left she kept her hand firmly around his neck. Zim squeaked, desperate to stay conscious as his eyesight began to darken, only being able to stare into her rage-filled red orbs and blink back tears as he went limp and his eyes rolled back into his head.

Alice dropped him to the ground, her arm soaked with his and her own blood as she glanced over at the control panel. She opened the case containing her gem, which was now surging with light, and took it in her hands, feeling power wash over her as the bloody scratches across her arm healed within seconds. She fused the gem back to her choker and finally brought her attention to Dib, still knocked out in the corner.

Her ears perked slightly at the sound of police sirens drawing near. She ripped the cuffs off his hands with ease and picked up both boys, carrying Dib like a helpless child and Zim's body more like a garbage bag. Alice hopped out of the crumbled husk of a machine and took off before anyone could spot her.

…...

Dib groaned and slowly opened his eyes, staring confused at the familiar walls of his room. He sat up and cradled his aching forehead, his eyes widening slightly as he felt the bloody bandages on his head. The door to his room creaked open and Alice poked her head in the room, her eyes stared at him with a happy, relieved expression. Dib eyes went wide as he frantically grabbed his glasses off his nightstand to be positive he wasn't seeing things. "A-Alice?!" "I'm glad you're okay Dib. You hit your head pretty bad; I was worried you were going to wake up with amnesia." Alice smiled. Dib stumbled out of bed and ran straight into her, wrapping his arm tight around her frame. "I-I…I thought you were dead…" Dib said, tearing up as he held her. "It's alright, Dib. I'm fine." Alice blushed slightly, awkwardly hugging back. "But you are sorta…crushing me right now…" Dib squeaked and let go of her. "Sorry…" Alice giggled and pats his head. "You're alright. I just came to check on you. I made a little breakfast in case you were awake. You want some?" Dib smiled warmly and nodded, following his friend downstairs. He could think about what happened later…

**AN: Don't worry guys. This story is far from over. I'll do my best to update more often now that school's back in. I'll be updating the Dareshow next! Bye~~~**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Humanity**

Police were investigating the sudden army of robots that had started to destroy the city before some sort of strange winged hero had stopped them dead in their tracks. A young officer cautiously stepped inside the last of the fallen mechs.

"merooooow…"

The officer jumped as a gray and white cat was already inside the robot, sniffing around the place.

"You okay in there kid?" one the other officers asked from outside.

"Y-yeah, there's just a cat in here." he replied, picking up Ruby.

Ruby huffed and allowed the officer the set her down outside and shoo her off for good measure. Ruby sighed and stalked off, she smelled Alice's power in there but she couldn't catch a trail.

"I guess the next best bet is checking her boyfriend's houses…" she muttered as she hopped up onto a wood fence and started making her way towards Zim's house.

…

"So...what happened? After I blacked out, I mean…"

Dib asked as he sat down at the breakfast table. Alice was hesitant to answer.

"I landed on a bunch of plush crap Gir was hiding down there. After that I crawled my way up to save you. I was able to find some sort of weapon in his base to blow up those robots…" she was lying through her teeth and Dib knew it but they unknowingly had a strange pact with each other. They'd continue to lie to each other's faces both in fear of what they would do or what the other would do.

"Wow, thank you so much Alice...you're amazing." Dib smiled.

Alice looked down at the table, trying her best to smile back. "No...thank you Dib…" she muttered.

Dib knew what she meant and frowned slightly. "So...what are you going to do...regarding him?"

Alice sighed. "There's not much I can do. I had him in my sights when I saved you but...I couldn't kill him…I left him there."

Dib sighed. "I'm sorry, Alice...I should've done better to convince you."

"I just can't believe I fell for his tricks." Alice groaned and rested her head in her arms on the table.

Dib pet her head sympathetically. "Hey, it's okay. Now we can go against him together." he smiled softly.

Alice lifted her head and smiled back. "Thanks Dib, you're a great friend." she got up and hugged him gently. Dib blushed slightly and hugged her back.

"I should probably get back home. Will you be alright?" Alice asked.

Dib nodded, "I'll be fine but Alice...promise me something, okay?"

"What is it?"

"Promise you'll come to school on Monday. I don't want this whole thing holding you back…"

Alice smiled and lightly tousled Dib's hair. "Don't worry about me Dib. I'll be fine, see you later."

…

Ruby sighed as she peeked into the window of the strange green house. The lights were off but she could still see a figure lying on the couch, though it was unresponsive to her tap on the window. "Damn…" she hissed, she felt very uneasy about going in there.

A crash behind her redirected her attention as she turned around to see pristine white paws fleeing a toppled garbage can. Ruby perked her ears up and quickly followed after the white creature. She thought she recognized those feet. Was it her mother? Her face lit up with hope at the thought as she rounded the corner, seeing the white cat hiding in a bush.

"Mother..?" she called, only to receive a confused mew from the bush.

The cat poked it's head out only to reveal a large black spot on it's forehead. It wasn't her.

Ruby's smile sank as she slinked away from the random stray. She had been trying to find her mother and brother for years now to no avail. She knew they were alive though, Alice said so.

"HIA!"

Ruby jumped and arched her back in surprise at the loud, high-pitched, greeting. Gir waved at her as he sat on the fence post behind her. Ruby sighed in relief and hopped up to join him. "Hi Gir…"

"Whatcha doin out here?" Gir asked, kicking his legs back and forth against the fence. Ruby then remembered why she had walked all the way over here in the first place.

"Have you seen Alice anywhere around here?" Ruby asked.

The small green dog's face twisted into a look of horror at the mention of her best friend.

"A-Ally…" Gir whimpered out fearfully.

Ruby's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Gir shook his head rapidly, not wanting to think about what happened ever again.

"Do y-you know where she went?!" she asked with a little more panic in her voice.

"I think master said they were goin to Mary's house."

"Mary?" Ruby cocked her head to the side.

"Big-head Mary!"

Ruby nodded in only slight understanding before hopping down from the fence. "Thanks Gir…" and with that she scampered off.

Gir went back inside and sat down on the floor, his back resting against the leg of the couch. I sudden sputtering cough broke the quiet air above him.

"Mastah?" Gir peeped, picking his head over the couch to look at Zim, his magenta eyes snapping open as his choking turned to raspy breaths.

"G-Gir..? Where..?" Zim coughed harshly as he looked around the dim house.

"I was hidin in the basement and when I came back Ally tied that white stuff around ur neck."

Zim gave him a confused look before glancing at his reflection in the blank tv. Bandages, stained a light pink were wrapped around his neck, his high collar was ripped in order to apply them. He sat frozen in horror as he remember what happened to cause the injury. She may've looked like a human, but she is a monster.

…

Alice shivered as she walked down the street. For reasons no will ever know the weather had suddenly remembered that it was still winter despite it being late February and was currently blowing gusts of snow-filled air in Alice's face. That's Michigan for you.

She made it a few blocks before a familiar furry figure ran up to her. "Alice!" Ruby beamed and pounced onto her feet. Alice smiled and scooped her friend up in her arms. "Where have you been? I was worried!" Ruby sighed, nuzzling her head into Alice's shoulder.

Alice shivered. "Let's just go home. I'm freezing out here…" Ruby nodded in agreement and helped guide her home.

As they stepped inside Ruby shook the snow out of her fur and hopped out of Alice's arms, onto the couch. Alice sat next to her with an exhausted sigh. "What happened out there?" Ruby asked, a lining of seriousness in her voice. Alice sat up again and avoided her gaze. "I don't want to talk about it, Ruby…" she muttered.

"Alice, don't try to ignore this. I can sense the power you use almost as clearly as you can. You can't hide anything from me." Ruby stood up. "You leave for over 24 hours and when I know where you are it's because your powers went out of control again. I want to know what happened!"

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know?" Alice got up from the couch and glared down at her friend. "It may be my body but I'm not the one controlling it when this happens…"

Ruby stayed quiet.

"I'm going to bed...I have school tomorrow…" Alice walked into her room without another word. Ruby stay on the couch that night, rather than sleeping on Alice's warm lap.

…

Dib yawned quietly as he waited by the steps of of the school, letting out a huff and glaring at Zim as he reached the building. It was an odd feeling, they always acted as if their last battle hadn't even taken place the following skool day but this time it stuck with him. It was probably because of Alice's involvement. Zim glared back at him, a few faint scabs peeking out from under his collar. The injuries had healed just fine, due to his Pak irkens may as well be indestructible.

The boys continued their silent battle of glares and hate-filled thoughts until the small alien faltered, catching a glimpse of the female that had nearly been his demise. Alice walked past the two boys, sparing neither of them a glance. Tensions hadn't died down at all between her and Ruby since the previous night, she had barely spoken to her this morning.

Dib jumped a little when he finally noticed Alice walking beside him and gives her a soft smile, only retracting it when he noticed her staring at the floor with a grim expression. The boy stayed quiet until they took their seats in the classroom.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Dib asked quietly as he turned around in his chair.

Alice looked up and smiled faintly at his concern. "It's fine, Dib. I just didn't sleep well last night." Alice faked a yawn, she had slept well but would rather not get into a conversation about what happened. Dib believed it and got off the topic.

The two held slightly awkward small talk for the majority of the day, though they eventually split off so Alice could go retrieve her packed lunch from her locker. She input the combination , the clicking easily heard in the empty hallway. Her ears perked slightly when she heard footsteps nearing her.

"Alright human, answer me this!" Zim stood in the hallway, keeping his distance from the girl as he showed her the scars on his neck. "You had the perfect moment to kill me, you had your motivation AND I was entirely defenceless! Why do you refuse to kill Zim?!" he yelled.

Alice sighed and closed her locker. "I couldn't...as much as I despised you in that moment, something stopped me from taking your life. Besides, for the time being we've entered a truce of sorts. If you keep quiet about what happened I won't contemplate killing you again." Zim backed up at Alice's words.

She softened her expression a bit. "I'm not looking for conflict Zim. Just leave me alone…" Alice brushed past him and went back to the lunchroom but her thoughts still lingered on him. Even in her demonic rage, one that has taken countless lives, why did she refuse to kill him?

**AN: I can't stop saying "sorry for the wait" can I? Things have been pretty hectic the last few months as I finished up school for the year. On top of that I had some massive writer's block. But my creative spark shines again and I'll continue updating the story for the rest of the summer. See you again soon!**


End file.
